Animorphs: The Retaliation
by 117Jorn
Summary: People should always be careful what they wish for... I found that out the hard way when I found myself in the presence of the Animorphs who for so long were once fiction to me, and fighting in a war in another reality... my name is Jordan, and I am going to make sure this time, the war goes our way. And the Yeerks had better be ready... four our Retaliation.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Start

**AN: Hello Everyone! 117Jorn here with another fanfiction for you all. This time, I am making my return to Animorphs, however I am taking a similar approach I took to New Blood and FFTF as you will soon tell. My last attempt at an Animorph Book didn't turn out too well, but I am older and more experianced with Fanfiction now, so I hope this version will be better than my old one!**

* * *

My name is Jordan.

To most, I am just your average eighteen year old, graduated from High School already and looking for Jobs. I have friends, family, a few crushes and the whatnot. Just your average Teenager I guess.

Well… that's how it use to be, for me at least. Now, everything is way more complicated for me and my friends.

...Have you ever heard of the Butterfly Effect? Well, basically In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. This was theorized by a man named Edward Lorenz who theorized that a Hurricane could have been formed from something as simple as a Butterfly flapping its wings several weeks earlier.

I know it sounds crazy, but I personally believe in it…well, I don't believe in the Butterfly making a Hurricane bit, but the concept itself I believe is true. Small changes can easily affect the outcome of the future if one tries hard enough. That is what I am trying to is what we are trying to do.

Who are we? We are the people who are protecting you from the threats you don't know, the things you probably don't want to know, but the fact your reading this proves you at least want to know what the hell is going on here. And what might you ask is it we are protecting you from?

The Yeerks.

They are parasites, an entire race of small slug-like aliens. Yes, Aliens. And their here, on earth. Now you might say I am crazy, that they don't exist. Well, you'd be wrong. The Yeerks are here, but you can't see them. Yet at the same time, you can.

Your friends, your mother, father, brother sister, girlfriend, school teachers, even policemen could be Yeerks, acting as 'Human Controllers.' That's what Yeerks are, they squirm into your head, and infest you, and that Yeerk has complete control of your body, and complete access to your memories. They know everything about who they control, and they can mimic them almost flawlessly. You may never know if your own family are all Yeerks in disguise.

The Yeerks are here, and they want Earth, they want humans to control so they can continue their path of conquest against their enemies, another alien race called the Andalites. Humans are not the first race Yeerks have conquered, they have taken control reportedly hundreds of other speices, some of which I've heard of like Taxxons, Hork-Bajir, and Gree, but there are many more I haven't heard of that are just as dangerous.

Me and my friends, we are all that fight the Yeerks. We are what stand between freedom, and enslavement. We are only a handful now… but we will grow, and we will build an army of like-minded friends who will stop at nothing to kick the Yeerks off of our home once and for all.

I know this sounds crazy and all, trust me it sounded that way for me too. More for me because, well… a month ago, all of this was just another science fiction story I loved to read, called Animorphs. Let me go back and explain how I became involved…

* * *

Ram the Blade Ship.

The last words of Jake, leader of the Animorphs, during the final book and chapter of Animorphs. K.A Applegate really did a number on us with that cliffhanger ending, believe me. You wouldn't believe how angry I was.

I sighed as I put 'The Beginning' down on my bedside table, and glancing at the clock. It was One fifteen AM, and it was still dark outside. I usually stay up later than the rest of my family, I don't got to bed until two or even three o'clock AM sometimes. Hell, there are some days I go a full 24 hours without a drop of sleep. I spend most of my time using the internet or, like tonight, reading up on books I loved.

As I said before, my name's Jordan. Although some tend to call me Jaden, mostly because I am writing a story where my main character is named Jaden, and my friends tend to call me that, not that I mind at all. Back then, I was just your everyday teen with short brown hair and brown eyes.

I've loved Animorphs since I was in the fifth grade, kinda funny how I became a fan when you think about it… back then I actually hated reading, and I just liked to look at the pictures of books, specifically things involving stuff like war, sci-fi stuff, you know, things kids like to see. But at my local library, they had a system where I can only read specific books with my 'reading score' which I hated. However, the Librarian was kind enough to show me one book which caught my attention, a book where the cover had someone changing into a Crocodile.

I started reading it… and the more I read, the more I was drawn to Animorphs, and reading in general. I loved the series, it was awesome. It had everything a kid could ask for, violence, action, drama, even some bits of romance for those who were interested. I started seeking out Animorphs Books relentlessly, like a kid who loved Pokemon, I just had to catch e'm all, I didn't want to stop until I had every last Animorphs book ever made.

Now, twelve years later, and here I am. Although my collection still isn't complete, its a drastic improvement to what I had before. Out of the sixty two books that had been made from 1996 to 2001, I have thirty six of the original fifty four books, plus three of the four Meganimorphs. Even today I keep an eye open for the remaining books I need to complete my collection. And I am just now realizing we're getting off track, so back to me.

After I had put down The Beginning, my mind thought back to everything I had read in Animorphs, all of the triumphs and defeats of Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Marco, Cassie, and Ax. I also thought about all of those minor characters, like Melissa Chapman, the Auxiliary Animorphs, and many others who had so much potential, but could never meet it. And it did sorta make me angry that K.A Applegate ended this amazing series on such a sour note in my opinion. When I was younger, I tried to make a story which would continue Animorphs, sorta my way of 'ending on a good note' you could say. Of course I was just a kid back then, so it never really worked out, just being an early piece of fanfiction before I even knew Fanfiction existed in the first place.

Though sometimes I still thought of what it would be like to somehow fix the world the Animorphs lived in, to save so many lives, and make everything turn out for the better. Of course I just dismiss those as childhood dreams that could never become reality.

How wrong I was.

Suddenly, I began feeling much more tired than I was before, like I was hit by a wave of sleepiness. I took that as my sign to just go to sleep, and I did as I pulled up the covers of my bed, rested my head on a pillow, and in just moments I found myself falling asleep.

* * *

I finally awoke with a loud yawn, as I shook my head. "Okay..." I muttered as I sat up in my bed, rubbing out the last bits of sleep in my eyes "Saturday Morning, got lots to do, placed to go, and I gotta..." At that moment, I opened my eyes, and I froze as I looked around.

This was not my room. It looked similar, but it was missing everything. My lamp, posters, my calender, everything was missing! The bed didn't even feel the same. "Okay..." I muttered, "What the fuck?"

I quickly got up to my feet, thankfully I went to bed with my clothes still on, just a pair of basketball shorts and a red T-Shirt. I looked around and saw the room, while looking similar to my original room, was different. All of the walls were white, not lime green like my room was. And as mentioned before, all of my posters and other items I had put around my room were also gone.

"Two questions," I said, "First: What? Second: The Fuck? Where the Hell am I?"

"**Where are you? You ask. This is your new home Jordan. For the moment at least,**" a voice from across the room answered, causing Jordan to whirl around in a defensive stance, however his eyes widened at what he saw. It was vaguely humanoid, but clearly different. Instead of hair, it had magnificent, rainbow-colored quills. Four wings came from its back looking like an angel's. He had four arms and four blue eyes as well. He stood on two feet. I noticed that the tops of his feet were like talons. It looked almost like he could rotate a foot to stand on a talon instead.

I blinked in surprise, as I looked at the… thing, in front of me. "What the hell…?" I muttered, and the weird… bird… thing smiled.

"**Think, Jordan.**" He said, "**Look at my features, where have you heard of them before?**"

I was about to ask how it knew my name, but I did as asked, and tried to think where he had seen - or 'heard' of this… thing. And in one moment however, it hit me like a sack of bricks as my eyes widened. It was a Ketran! He was a Ketran, an alien race that was extinct in Animorphs continuity… save for one.

"**And now, you know.**" The creature said, reading his mind.

"Ellimist..." I muttered, trembling a bit "But wha… how… you don't exist!"

"**The fact I am standing before you disproves that theory, Jordan.**" The Ellimist said, "**There are many universes, Jordan, the Multiverse has many different worlds and galaxies, each one different, yet some are very similar. Is it too much of a stretch to believe that one universe that was once fictional, is in fact a reality?**"

"So… so wait..." I said, trying to grap the idea of this "So… Animorphs… Jake, Cassie, the Yeerks… their all… real?"

The Ellimist nodded "**Yes,**" he said, "**Or at least it will be real. Tonight at Seven will be the night that Elfangor will land on earth, and you must be there with the Animorphs to guide them to the better future.**"

I raised an eyebrow "Why are you doing this?" I asked, "And why pick me, out of all of the people in my reality, out of billions of people to pick, you chose me. Why? I doubt big old red eye's would let this slide."

"**He didn't,**" Ellimist said, "**Which is why we came to a compromise… I would be allowed to bring you into our reality, and make it so you can achieve whatever it is you believe will help the Animorphs the most… however Crayak will be allowed to set into motion specific events that did not occur in the original series, events which could drastically change the course of the war. They will be small at first, but eventually...**"

I nodded in understanding "I get it," I said, "So not even my knowledge of Animorphs will help me through and through, so I need more trump cards."

The Ellimist smiled "**So, do you accept the offer?**" He asked.

"Answer me this first," I said, "What happens to my reality? I can't just leave my friends and family. Also, if you want me to help you, I'm gonna need more trump cards than just my knowledge of the series and Morphing."

"**Your reality will be… paused, I suppose you can say.**" The God-like figure said, "**Should you wish to return home once you finish your mission in the Animorph Universe, no time will have passed. However… if you are killed in the Animorph Universe...**"

"I die in this reality, and my parents will forget I even existed in the first place?" I asked knowing the answer, this was how the Ellimist and Crayak's little war game worked. Spending so long reading Animorphs you learn a thing or two about how they work. His thoughts were confirmed with the Ellimist nodded "Yes, I am sorry." he said, "But those are the rules… well some of them."

For about a minute I was silent, as I contemplated my options. The Ellimist was giving me the option to go back home where it was safe… or possibly live out a childhood dream I always wanted, but risk getting killed and no one remembering me. I think that anyone else may of picked the first option, and leave… but deep down… I felt like I had to do this. Different realities or not, this may be a way to change the lives of billions of people. The Animorphs, Auxiliary Animorphs, and so many others. I could save them, and actually be someone.

I let out a long sigh "I'll do it," I said, and the Ellimist smiled, "So what are the rules in total? And what differences can you tell me that I can expect?"

"**The rules are simple, really.**" The Ellimist said, "**First, you cannot reveal the location of the Time Matrix buried at the construction site. Second, While you can tell the Animorphs some of their futures, you cannot tell them their full fates, so you cannot warn Rachel of what happens in book 54… yet. I will have a list of events you cannot tell the Animorphs… directly.**"

"So I can't tell Marco his mom is still alive, and stuff like that?" I took a guess, and the Ellimist nodded "Alright, what else?"

"**Thirdly, the Animorphs are not allowed to read future books,**" He said, "**But you are allowed to let them read past books whose events have already transpired. That is it.**"

"That's it?" I asked, "Those are the only rules? I can work with this."

"**Yes,**" Ellimist said, nodding. "**Now, there are several changes you may notice Jordan. First off, unlike in your world where it is the year 2013, here in the Animorphs world it is the year 1998. And also, you will notice that the Animorphs themselves are older than they were in the series, more close to your age and in high school rather than middle school.**"

"Alright, good." I said nodding, "Thanks for letting me know ahead of time..." he looked around "So… where are we?"

"**As I said, your new home.**" Ellimist answered, "**It is a large house I have constructed, close to where the Hork-Bajir valley is located, and is protected the same way it is. I intentionally made it blank so you would have room to customize it… however I have taken the liberty of adding some features here you can use for you war with the Yeerks.**"

I rose an eyebrow at that "What do you mean?" I asked, and the Ellimist chuckled.

"**You will find out in due time,**" he said, before he gestured to the side where suddenly a poster of a tiger appeared on the wall. "**Behind the poster is a safe, which contains your entire collection of Animorph Books… as well as any books you were missing at the time, along with all of the T.V Episodes on DVD.**"

I blinked in surprise, but grinned triumphantly "Thank you… so much!" I said, trying to contain my excitement.

"**Your welcome,**" Ellimist said nodding, "**My time is now up, I must leave you now. Take some time to explore the house before you set out, you will find many surprises here. I also say you should check your bank account. Goodbye.**" And before I could say anything more, the Ellimist disappeared in a flash of light.

I looked around the room, and let out a sigh "No going back now..." I muttered, before I blinked "Wait… 1998..." I then let out a long sigh "Great… the Xbox 360 and the PS3 haven't been made yet… what am I gonna do during the low- hu?" he blinked as a note appeared before him, and he caught it, and as he read it, he smirked. "Thank. You. Ellimist."

'_Jordan, since I know you will be bored during the period between missions, I have sent your entire game and movie library to your new house, its in the room next to your bedroom. Including titles and systems that have not been released at this timeframe. Enjoy_.'

* * *

I spend a few minutes exploring the house, and the more I went by it, the more I loved what the Ellimist had done to it. It was as if he knew everything I would want in order to help the Animorphs as best as I could, and in more ways than one. Taking his advice, I checked how much money I had on my bank account… and I nearly fainted. I had over a Trillion dollars in money in the bank! That's almost the amount of money spent by the allies in World War II! Money will not be a problem for me for the foreseeable future. However thanks to the Ellimist, he had taken the liberty of dividing the money into multiple different accounts across the U.S, as to avoid any suspicion.

Also, I found out the house itself was huge, three stories with kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms. I could have twenty people live in this house comfortably, not to mention I found massive store rooms in some sort of mini-bunker under the house, which was stocked with food. I also found a room filled with exercise and training equipment.

After I explored the house enough, I went back to my room where I refreshed my memory on everything that happened in Book 1 of Animorphs, the Invasion, just to be sure I had it memorized from beginning to end. Once that was done, I found the garage of the place, where the Ellimist was kind enough to give me a new car, a Ford F-250. Its times like these I was glad I got a Licence the moment I graduated.

Thanks to the truck, I managed to follow an old dirt trail out of the woods and back onto the road, and thanks to a GPS I got into town without much trouble. As I drove the truck down the streets, I looked around at the people on the sidewalk, just normal everyday people to the naked eye… but I couldn't help but remind myself that many of these people may already be Yeerks… and that still freaked the crap out of me.

I drove the truck to the one place I knew I would fin the Animorphs today: The Mall. According to the first book, this is where all of them were at before they were at the construction site. I hoped to find one of them before seven o'clock, which is when Elfangor will arrive. I spent most of my time planning on who to find, and I came to the conclusion the easiest Animorph, or future Animorph really, to find would be Tobias…

...but, after several minutes of searching, I found the biggest flaw to my plan was I had no idea where Tobias was! Even though I had a general idea what he looked like thanks to the book covers and the TV show, it wasn't much to go by. However thankfully I remembered that he liked reading, so I headed down to the Mall's book store. Fortunately for me, luck was on my side as there were only five other people in the bookstore. Other than the shop assistant at the till, there was an old man looking at some classic novels, a young couple in the reference section, and a boy about my age, looking at the sci-fi books.

He was about average height; he had unusual shining green eyes, wild messy dark blonde, almost brown hair that stuck up in all directions, and a dreamy expression on his face as he was looking at a Star Wars book. I was almost positive it was Tobias; but 'almost positive' wasn't good enough, I had to be sure. After all, the fate of the planet was depending on me to get this right.

'_Alright, let's try this casual._' I thought, as I took a deep breath, casually walked up to him, and spoke "So, you like science fiction books?"

He suddenly snapped out of his daydream and looked at me suspiciously for a few seconds, and then he smiled. "Yeah I love Star Trek and Star Wars and things like that with aliens in. It's so cool!" He said, "What about you?"

"Same boat here," I said with a small chuckle, "Sci-Fi is just flat out awesome, anything is possible in it if you put your mind to it..." I then stook out my hand, "Name's Jordan, you?"

"I'm Tobias," he replied. "Nice to meet you Jordan."

My heart leaped! Yes! I had done it! I had found Tobias! But I still had a job to do. I had to stay with him until we ran into Jake and Marco; then the real game would begin. "You too," I said. "So tell me, what's your favorite Sci-Fi book so far? I love Star Wars above all else."

* * *

Me and Tobias spent a lot of time talking about Sci-Fi, and each other. It was kinda weird talking to a person I once thought as a fictional character, especially one who was one of my favorite characters. But after a while I got use to it, it was actually pretty cool to actually get to know Tobias, not only did we share the same love of Sci-Fi, but we shared similar interest in… well, almost everything else. Heck, I think I introduced him to a few things he didn't eve knew existed.

"So this… Anime stuff is really that good?" Tobias asked, as we walked out of the Bookstore together, both of us having bought several books there.

"Yeah, Anime has all sorts of stuff," I said, smiling "My favorites are Mecha Animes, like Gundam, Macross and Robotech. You'd be surprise what you can find if you look hard enough for it."

Tobias smiled and nodded, he seemed much more happy than when I first met him. I knew he was always considered lonely with only a few friends, but he was practically beaming that he had a true friend now. After leaving the bookstore, we were walking when we suddenly ran into two people. One had long black hair, and brown eyes, and another guy with brown hair and eyes. I'll give you two guesses at who they were.

If you guess Jake and Marco, then your right!

"Hey Tobias, who are your friends?" Jake asked, once we caught up to them.

I stepped forward. "Hey, I'm Jordan." I said,

"Cool. I'm Jake, and this is Marco."

"What's up?" Tobias asked quickly changing the subject.

Jake shrugged. "Not much. We're heading home."

"Out of quarters," Marco commented. "Certain people keep forgetting that the Sleaze Troll shows up right after you cross the Nether Fjord. So certain people keep losing the game – and losing our quarter." Marco kept jerking his thumb at Jake, just in case we couldn't figure out who he meant by "certain people."

"So, like maybe we'll walk home with you guys," Tobias said.

"Sure" Jake said "why not?"

"I'm good with it." I said, suppressing my massive grin threatening to overcome me. As we continued walking, the four of us just told things about each other. I had to lie on just a few things, but nothing major, and I was mostly truthful when I said things like 'I just got here a while ago' and things like that.

As we walked on, we came across three girls, one with long blond hair, and sapphire blue eyes and she had that look that she just stepped out of a Magazine, another girl who looked more like she belong on a farm than in a mall, and she had dark skin and her hair was really short. I instantly recognized them as Rachel and Cassie from the covers of the books. However the third girl, I didn't recognize at first. She was easily about my age, and maybe a few inches shorter than me, she had shoulder length light brown hair, and dark blue eyes. wearing a rather simple dress shirt.

"You guys going home?" Jake asked Rachel. "You shouldn't go through the construction site by yourselves. I mean, being girls and all."

Rachel seemed to look a bit offended, as she sent a teasing glare to him "Are you going to come and protect us, you big strong m-a-a-a-n?" She asked rhetorically, "You think we're helpless just because-"

"I'd appreciate it if they did walk with us," Cassie interrupted. "I know you're not afraid of anything, Rachel, but I guess I am."

Rachel didn't say much, but rolled her eyes before she looked at Tobias, and then noticed me standing next to him "Who are you?" She asked, "Friend of yours Tobias?"

Tobias scratched the back of his head sheepishly "Just met actually, at the bookstore," he said, "But yeah, he's a friend."

"Name's Jordan, nice to meet ya." I said with a nod, still trying not to grin as the whole gang - minus Ax - were right in front of me, however I was still slightly unnerved at the third woman who was looking at me - who was she?

"Nice to meet you Jordan," Cassie said, "I'm Cassie, this is my friend Rachel, and her friend Melissa."

"Nice to meet you too." I said nodding, and the unknown girl's identity finally hitting me 'Melissa Chapman! She's Hedrick Chapman's daughter! What is she doing here? Is she one of the changes Ellimist warned me about? Wow she looks a lot like Terra Vnesa.'

"Hu, Funny." Melissa said with a thoughtful expression, "One of Rachel's sister is named Jordan you know."

"Yeah," Rachel said nodding, "So, we going through this thing or what?"

Nodding, we decided to finally take the short cut through the construction yard. And like that, it was just the seven of us walking through the construction site, to anyone else we would have looked like your ordinary group of Teenagers. However I knew differently, and I knew what would happen in just a few minutes.

That was when we cut through the construction site. I felt the shivers going through my spine as I gazed up at the skies, while also not looking to suspicious.

Then, I saw it.

"Look," Tobias said.

"What?" Jake asked.

"Just look," Tobias said. His voice was strange. Amazed-sounding, but serious at the same time.

So Jake looked up. And there it was. A brilliant, blue-white light that scooted across the sky, going fast at first, too fast for it to be an airplane, then slower and slower.

"What is it?" Jake asked.

Tobias shook his head. "I don't know."

I just couldn't stop grinning. He's here. I thought. He's finally here!

"It's a flying saucer!" Cassie yelled.


	2. Chapter 2: The Andalite's Power

**AN: First off, I would like to say thank you all for reading this fic. Also, some of you have mentioned how my fic appears similar too the 'Animorphs Travels' fic by Phoenix004, a fellow Fanfiction Writer who quit fanfiction because to many people were blatantly ripping off his work. I admit that Phoenix's work has greatly inspired this fic, in fact if it wasn't for Phoenix I may not of been inspired to write fanfiction at all, but his work is something I will always treasure, which is why I REFUSE to do as those before, and just flat-out rip off his work. I will draw much inspiration from his fics, however I will be ensuring that all of my work in this fic is 100% genuine and _not _a flat-out rip off of Phoenix004's work. You may see a piece or two, or even an event or action which relates back to Phoenix's fic, but I did not flat out copy it. The only scenes which MAY look like they are from Animorph Travels are those are are DIRECTLY from the original Animorph Books which we had both used for our fics.  
**

**Now, with that over... let us begin!**

"Talking"

'_Thinking_'

"_Radio Speak_"

"**Powerful Being Speaking**"

"_Thought Speak_"

* * *

"A flying saucer?" Marco said, as he laughed a bit until he looked up.

I wasn't paying too much attention to them though, as my eyes were fixed on Elfangor's ship slowly descending upon us. I knew I was grinning up a storm, but I simply couldn't help myself. This was a childhood dream that was just minutes away from coming true, I was going to become an honest to god Animorph!

"It's coming this way," Rachel said, interrupting my thoughts.

"It's hard to be sure," Jake's voice was barely a whisper.

"No, She's Right, it's coming this way," Melissa confirmed.

As predicted, the ship was slowing down, like a plane arriving at an airport, about to land. We could now see the ship quite clearly.

"It's not exactly a flying saucer," Jake pointed out.

He was right of course; it looked pretty much as it has in the fan art and official images I've found on the web back in the years, as well as what the craft from _Andalite Chronicles _looked like. It was about the size of a school bus, and the front end was like an oval shaped pod. Extending out of the back of the pod was a long narrow shaft. There were two crooked, stubby wing-like things, and on the end of each wing was a long tube that glowed bright blue on the back end. The ship looked harmless until you saw the tail. It was a mean looking tail that curved up and forward, ending in a needle-like point. "That tail must be some kind of weapon," Jake said.

"Definitely," Marco agreed.

"No shit." I said, as the ship was still losing speed, and still flying closer to us.

"It's stopping," Rachel said. Her voice was starting to sound a bit weird, like she couldn't believe it was real. I could hardly believe it myself, and I read the book!

"I think it sees us," Marco said. "Should we run? Maybe we should run home and get a camera. Do you know how much money we could get for a video of a real UFO?"

"If we run, they might… I don't know, zap us with Phasers on full power," Jake made a lame attempt at a joke.

"Phasers are only on _Star Trek_," Marco said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, but that's a nasty looking tail," I said. "Besides, weren't Phasers built by the Humans in Star Trek? Most of the other species used those Disruptor cannons."

"Is now _really _the time?" Rachel barked. I just shrugged nervously. "Just trying to keep ourselves calm, and collective." I said.

"Your not doing a real good job buddy." Marco said.

The ship stopped and hovered almost directly over our heads, maybe thirty meters in the air. I glanced at the others and nearly laughed when I looked at Rachel and Melissa, for their hair were sticking out in every direction, except Cassie looked normal since her kinky hair was tied up in a messy knot.

"What do you think it is?" Marco asked. His voice was shaking slightly. He didn't seem so cocky with an alien space craft over his head. I was glad none of them were actually looking at me, otherwise they would see the shit-eaten grin across my face, I was just too excited to be scared.

"I think it's going to land," Tobias said. I looked at him and saw that I wasn't the only one smiling. His eyes were glowing with excitement just as mine was. I glanced at Melissa, who's eyes were showing a bit of fear as she was beginning to back away. However I felt that she needed to be here for this, and I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Her head darted back in surprise, but I just gave her a confident smile and a nod, don't know why I just felt like it was something I should do.

Surprisingly though, Melissa seemed to calm down, if just a bit, as she smiled a bit too and stood her ground, looking back up at the alien ship as it landed. As the ship came in for a landing between the piles of junk, I noticed the top of the pod section had been badly burnt; some of it had started to melt. The ship touched down and the blue lights instantly went out. Rachel and Melissa's hair fell back down on to their necks.

"It isn't very big is it?" Rachel whispered.

"It's about… about three or four times the size of our minivan," Jake said.

"I'm guessing its some sort of a fighter." I said. "Like a _Slave I_, or something. Their usually no bigger than a bus."

"Seriously, why are you so calm?" Rachel asked.

"Because if whoever or whatever is flying that thing were hostile, wouldn't they of tried to kill us already?" I retorted. "That big blade sure as hell isn't for show."

"We should tell someone," Marco said. "I mean, this is kind of major, you know? Spaceships don't just land in the construction site every day. We should call the cops or the army or the president or something. We'd be totally famous. We'd get to be on TV for sure."

"Yeah, you're right" Jake agreed. "We should call someone." But I knew that none of them would leave. They weren't going to just walk away from a spaceship.

"I wonder if we should talk to it," Rachel suggested. She was standing there with her hands on her hips looking at the spaceship like it was a puzzle she had to figure out. "I mean, we should communicate. If that's even possible."

Tobias nodded, stepped forward, and held out his empty hands to show that he wasn't carrying a weapon. In a loud, clear voice, he said, "It's safe we won't hurt you."

"Do you think they speak English?" Jake wondered aloud.

"Well, everyone speaks English on _Star Trek_," Cassie said with a nervous laugh.

"Please come out," Tobias pleaded. "We won't hurt you."

"_I know._"

It wasn't nearly as strange to hear thought speak as I thought it would be. It was like hearing something but not through your ears, but feeling it through your head. Kinda like your own thoughts, however they sounded much stronger and it echos in your head a bit. I sorta expected it to be something like that, but it still caused me to jump a bit in surprise.

"Did you guys…?" Jake started.

We all nodded at once, very slowly.

"Can you come out?" Tobias asked in his loud talking-to-aliens-voice.

"_Yes. Do not be frightened._"

"We won't be frightened," Tobias said.

"Speak for yourself," Jake muttered. The others giggled nervously.

A thin arc of light appeared, a doorway, opening slowly in the smooth side of the pod part of the ship. I stood there, gazing towards the ship, and grinning like an idiot. Waiting.

The opening grew, like a crescent moon at first, then a full, bright circle.

And then he appeared. For a moment he stood tall and proud, like the great warrior he was. He was just as I had imagined him.

My first glimpse reminded me of a Centaur from Greek Mythology. Half-human. Half-horse, of course with the addition of blue fur, a mouthless face with three strange vertical slits as nostrils, four eyes, two where any human's eyes would be, and two more on his two stalks which stuck out of his head, allowing him to see a full 360 degrees around him at all times. And of course, the last feature which really made him stand out, was that scorpion-like tail, thick and powerful with a deadly and wicked-looking stinger which looked as if it were made of some type of metal. It was obvious you did _not _want to get hit with that thing.

"Hello," said Tobias. His voice was gentle, like he was talking to a baby. The more he grinned, the stranger he looked. Then again, I couldn't really blame him since I looked pretty much the same, the suspense of what was happening was _killing _me. Actually seeing Elfangor was a strange, yet amazing experiance. I mean yeah sure, he's an alien, who wouldn't be amazed if they saw an Alien? But for me, it was like I had a sense of déjà vu, likely because I had pictured this whole scene out in my head so many times reading Book #1, and it was all playing out almost exactly as I imagined it. Actually seeing Elfangor, eye-to-eye, it was like meeting with an old friend I hadn't seen in a long time.

"_Hello_" Elfangor greeted us kindly.

"Hi," we all said back. Then, as predicted, he staggered a bit and fell to the ground. Tobias tried to catch him and keep him on his feet, but he slipped from his grasp and slumped back onto the ground, giving us a clear view of a large burn which ran down his right side.

"Look! Cassie yelled. She pointed at a burn that covered half the alien's right side. "He's hurt!"

"_Yes,_" he replied. "_I am dying._"

"Can we help you? We can call an ambulance or something," Marco said.

"We can bandage that wound," Cassie said. "Jake, give me your shirt. We can tear it up and make bandages." I knew Cassie knew a lot about animals thanks to the fact both of her parents had jobs pertaining to animals', so it was only natural for her to want to help. But the sad thing was I knew there was nothing anyone could do.

"_No. I will die. The wound is fatal._"

"NO!" Jake cried. "You can't die. You're the first alien ever to come to Earth. You can't die."

"_I am not the first. There are many, many others._"

"Other aliens? Like you?" Tobias demanded.

Elfangor shook his big head slowly, side to side. "_Not like me._" Then he cried out in pain, a silent sound that echoed horribly inside my mind. For a moment, I had actually felt him dying.

"_Not like me,_" he repeated. "_They are different._"

"Different? How?" Melissa said.

I will remember his answer forever.

He said, "_They have come to destroy you._" and was met with total silence. No one objected, no one shouted "No Way" or "You're making that up." I could tell they all knew that he was telling the truth. With the silence, Elfangor continued to speak. "_They are called Yeerks_," he said, almost as if he were cursing the very name 'Yeerk'. "_They are different than us, different from you as well._"

"Are you telling us they're already here on earth?" Rachel demanded.

"_Many are here_," Elfangor said. "_Hundreds, thousands, maybe more._"

"They must have a way to hide themselves from the public eye," I said before Marco could speak. "Stealth tech or something like that."

"_You are correct… half correct at least,_" the Andalite said. "_Yeerks have different bodies from you and I. They live inside the bodies of other species. They are..._" Seeming to have difficulty describing what a Yeerk looks like, Elfangor closed his eyes and concentrated, and suddenly I could see the image of a yeerk in my head. A black, greyish-green slug without a shell, only the size of a rat if not a bit smaller. '_A Yeerk._' I thought.

"I'm guessing that was either a Yeerk or a big wad of slimy chewing gum." Marco commented.

"_They are almost powerless without hosts,_" Elfangor continued. "_They-_" Suddenly me and the others felt a blast of pain, straight from the alien, I could feel all of his sadness and pain, it actually felt like my head was splitting open. "_The Yeerks… are parasites,_" he continued once the pain subsided. "_They must have a host to live in. In this form they are known as controllers. They enter the brain and are absorbed into it, taking over the hosts thoughts and feelings. They try to get the host to accept them voluntarily, it is easier that way. Otherwise the host will be able to resist, at least a little._"

"Are you saying they take over _human beings?_" Rachel asked, sounding disgusted as the others looked shocked as well. "People? These things take over their bodies?"

"Look, this is serious stuff," Jake said. "You shouldn't be telling us. We're just kids, you know. This is like something the government should know about."

"And if the Yeerks find him?" I asked, causing Jake to look at me surprised. "He just said there are thousands of these things on earth, thousands of… human-controllers, how do we know some of those damn things aren't in the government?"

"_He is right_," Elfangor said. "_We had hoped to stop them, but swarms of their Bug Fighters were waiting in ambush when our Dome ship came out of Z-Space. We knew of their mother ship and were ready for the Bug Fighters, but the Yeerks surprised us, hiding a Blade Ship on your moon, and ambushed us. We fought… but we lost. They have likely tracked me here, they will be here soon to eliminate all traces of me and my ship._"

"Remove the evidence?" I asked, nodding. "They want to make sure no one finds you or the crash, an alien spacecraft landing on earth during this 'Secret Earth Invasion' of theirs would throw a wrench in their plans. The Yeerks must have access to advance weaponry that's capable of making sure not a single trace of your ship survives."

"_Yes,_" Elfangor said. "_Dracon Beams will leave nothing behind aside from a few molecules. I sent a message to my homeworld. We Andalites fight the Yeerks no matter where they are in the universe. They will send help, but it may take a year, maybe more, for such help to arrive. By then the Yeerks may have control of your planet, and after that, there will be no hope. You must tell your people, you must warn them!_"

Another spasm of pain hit us all at once, we could tell his time had nearly come. "No one is going to believe us!" Marco said helplessly, looking at Jake as he shook his head "No way!"

"Not to mention, we don't know _who _to approach," I added. "We don't know who's a controller and who's not! We could walk right into the Yeerks hands without even knowing it!"

"I don't care if he _thinks_ he's going to die, we have to try and help him!" Rachel said, as Melissa nodded hastily. "We can get him to a hospital, or Cassie's parents!"

"_There is no time,_" Elfangor said, shaking his head ."_No time..._" suddenly his eyes brightened as he raised his head. "_But perhaps..._"

"What?" Jake asked.

"_One of you, go into my ship,_" he said. "_You will see a small blue box, very plain. Bring it to me quickly! I have very little time, and the Yeerks will find me soon!_"

I wanted to stand up, I wanted to be the one who went into the ship, to see what it looked like. However I stayed my ground, and allowed it to be Jake. I knew it had to happen, he had to be the one. I allowed the others to silently vote, and it was quickly apparent Jake would be the one to go.

"Go ahead," Tobias said to Jake. "I want to stay with him." He knelt beside the Andalite and placed a comforting hand on his narrow shoulder.

Jake looked at the doorway to the alien spacecraft, before he looked at Cassie who nodded "Go ahead," she said, sending him a smile. "You're not scared."

It was pretty obvious that Jake was plenty scared, however he did his best to hide it as he walked up the ramp of the Andalite Fighter, and into the ship. A few seconds passed, and soon he left, and carrying the aforementioned blue box in his hands. I did my best to hold back a smile. '_It's time._' I thought.

"Here's the box," Jake said, as he handed the Andalite the box.

"_Thank you,_" Elfangor said, and Jake seemed a bit hesitant before he spoke again "I, um… " he said. "Was that your family? That picture?"

"_Yes,_" the Andalite said, nodding.

"I'm really sorry," Jake said, However Elfangor simply nodded, as he then held up the box for all of them to see.

"_There may be something I can do for you, to help you fight the Yeerks,_" he said.

"What?" Rachel demanded.

"_I know that you are young,_" Elfangor began. "_I know that you have no power with which to resist the controllers. But I may be able to give you some small powers to help you. He then indicated the box. This is a piece of Andalite Technology, one which the Yeerks do not have. A technology which allows us to go unnoticed in many parts of the universe- the power to morph. we have never shared this power, but your need is great._"

"Morph? Morph how and what?" Rachel asked, her eyes narrowing.

"_To change your bodies,_" he explained. "_To become any other species, any living animal whether they be sentient or not._"

"Become animals?" I asked, attempting to feign ignorance to the true nature of Morphing.

"_You will need to touch a creature to acquire its DNA pattern,_" Elfangor explained. "_It requires concentraion and determination, but if you are strong, you can do it. There are limitations...problems, dangers even. But there is no time to explain it all… you will have to learn for yourselves. But first, do you wish to receive this power?_"

"He's kidding… right?" Marco asked Jake.

"No," Tobias said softly. "He's not kidding."

"This is nuts," Marco said. "This whole thing is nuts, yeerks, spaceships, slugs taking over people's brains and Andalites with the power to change into animals? Give me a break."

"Yeah, this is beyond weird," Jake admitted.

"But it _has _to be true!" I declared, catching the others by surprise. "He is _dying,_ and we are talking about the survival of our race! Yeah, we're a bunch of kids, but right now we're all earth has! I doubt I could live with myself if I said no to protecting the human race from being enslaved by a bunch of fracking slugs! If this Morphing… Cube can give us the power he claims, then we need it if we want to so much as put up a decent fight against these Frackers!"

The others looked surprised at my declaration, however Cassie soon agreed and nodded. "I'll do it too," she said, surprising all of the others once again. However then Jake said, "We should decide as a group, one way or the other."

I looked up at the sky, and saw two pinpoints of red light moving across the sky. "Then you guys better pick quickly," I said, confusing them. "'Cause I think the Yeerks are here." The others looked up, just as the two lights made a big U-Turn and started heading towards the crash sight.

"_Yeerks!_" Elfangor cursed with venom in his voice "_He is right, we are out of time! You must decide quickly!_"

"I'm with Cassie and Jordan," Tobias said. "We have to do this, how else can we fight the Controllers?"

"This is so insane!" Marco shouted. "Insane!"

"I'd like for more time, but we don't have time!" Rachel shouted. "Let's do it!"

"What do you say Jake?" Cassie asked the soon to be leader of the Animorphs. Jake looked up at the sky where the Bug Fighters approached, like bloodhounds chasing after a wounded fox, before he looked back down at the Andalite, before he looked at all of the others.

"We have to do it," Tobias tried to reason.

Jake finally saw he was right, and sighed "He's right… we have too."

"Melissa?" I asked Rachel's friend, who looked very indecisive and scared. "What about you?"

The daughter of Vice Principal Chapman was hesitant, as she looked at Rachel, who gave her a confident smile, before looking at the morphing cube, and then towards me. She then gave me this odd look, don't exactly know _what _kind of look it was… but shortly after, she let out a sigh. "Let's… let's do it." She said, nodding.

"_Then each of you, put your hands on a side of the cube._" Elfangor said, as he lifted the cube out for them all to touch. By each touch, the blue cube glowed a bit brighter, and brighter, and seven hands touched the cube together.

"Do not be afraid," Elfangor said. And a moment later, it felt like there was a short shock that hit our hands, but it didn't hurt, and we released our hands from the cube. "_Go now!_" Elfangor said, "_Only remember this - never remain in morph for more than two earth hours, never! Otherwise you will be trapped in that form forever! It is the greatest danger of morphing!_"

"Two hours!" Jake repeated nodding, and suddenly a new wave of fear washed through the Andalite's mind, liked as we were to him. We could all feel the wave of dread wash over us, as we all looked at the sky and saw a new ship joining the two bug fighters.

"_Visser Three! He comes!_" Elfangor shouted.

"What?" Jake asked, visibly shaking from this new terror. "What's a Visser Three?"

"_Go now! Run! Visser Three is here!_" Elfangor warned, "_He is the most deadly of our enemies! Of all of the Yeerks he alone has the power to Morph! The Same power you have! Run!_"

"No, we'll stay with you!" Rachel began to say, but Melissa grabbed her shoulder.

"No, we gotta go Rachel!" she said. "We can't fight these… these Yeerks now! We need to get out of here!"

"She's right," I said. "We gotta bail, we can't die here in a hopeless fight, we need to live to fight another day!"

"_Yes, you must run! Save yourselves!_" Elfangor said, "_Save your planet! The Yeerks are here!_"

Jake jerked his head from the force of his command. "He's right. Let's go! Run!"

The others all ran as quickly as they could, as above them the red lights got closer and closer to their position. The only two who had yet to run were me and Tobias. Tobias knelt beside the Andalite, and took his hand. Elfangor pressed his other hand against Tobias's head, as he rocked back like he'd been shocked. A moment passed before he too ran away with the others, leaving just me and Elfangor.

"Is it alright if I acquire your DNA?" I asked the dying Andalite, who seemed to give that Andalite smile as he nodded, as I put a hand on his shoulder, and quickly acquired his DNA.

"_You are surprisingly wise... for one so young_" Elfangor said, "_The others… they will need your help if they are to survive the Yeerks._"

"Don't worry," I said, smiling. "I will, and I'll make sure they stay safe… including your son, Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, the Yeerks won't know what hit them when we're done.""

Elfangor looked at me in surprise, before he let out a short though-speak laugh as he realized who sent me. "_Ellimist,_" he said, and I nodded.

"Yup," I said. "I'm here to keep them safe, don't worry… by the way, you can morph too right? If you Morph, that wound would just heal up like that."

"_I don't have enough time,_" Elfangor said. "_By the time I try such… it will be too late, I cannot focus due to the pain… Please… promise me they will be safe… please tell me this wasn't for nothing._"

I put a hand on his shoulder, and nodded. "It wasn't for nothing," I said to the dying warrior. "We _will _win this war, and we will _all _come out of this alive, that I promise you."

Elfangor nodded. "_Thank you..."_ he said. "_Please… tell my son… when the time is right that is, that I am sorry I was not there for him."_

I nodded as I stood up. "Right, I will." I said, as I began to stand up, before I noticed the Morphing Cube lying next to me. I quickly picked it up. "Don't want the Yeerks getting this, right? And I think we're gonna need more than seven kids in this war." Elfangor seemed to smile that Andalite smile as he nodded. "Do me one favor Elfangor… give those bastards hell."

"_I intend to,_" the Andalite said, and with that, I gave the warrior a short salute, before I jumped and ran back to where the others were. Just after I left a beam of bright red light snapped on, a spotlight from one of the Bug Fighters, which lit up over the fallen Andalite and his ship, and a second light from the other Fighter joined in.

I quickly joined Jake and the others, as I hit the dirt and skid down and crouched behind a low crumbling wall. I peeked over the edge, as I watched the two Cockroach-looking fighters touch down on either side of the Andalite ship.

"Okay, you can wake me up now," Marco said in a rattled whisper. "I've had enough of this nightmare."

"It ain't over yet..." I whispered back, as the larger ship began to descend, Visser Three's Blade ship. I didn't know what I was feeling, but the closer that ship got, the more I felt like I couldn't breath, I couldn't breath a lungful of air, I felt the massive urge to run but I knew I couldn't, even my legs were shaking uncontrollably.

Soon I realized… it was fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. I knew I should have been prepared for this, from how all of the others described the Blade Ship in the books… but experiencing it myself, _seeing _the Blade Ship with my own two eyes… it felt like the Blade Ship itself was cursed with fear. It was larger than a Bug Fighter easily, if I had to guess its size I'd of put it around 130 Meters, maybe more.

The Blade Ship landed, we watched as a loading ramp was lowered to the surface, and a door opened. Cassie began to scream, but Jake quickly clasped his hand over her mouth. Then, they jumped out of the ship, giant snake/dinosaur like creatures with blades all over them. I quickly identified them as Hork-Bajir, real living Hork Bajir.

"_Hork Bajir controllers,_" Elfangor said in our minds, causing Jake and the others to jump in surprise. "Did you guys…?" he asked, and we all nodded.

"_The Hork Bajir are a good people, despite their fearsome looks,_" Elfangor explained. "_They were once peaceful, but the Yeerks came and enslaved their race, each of them now a Controller. They are to be pitied._"

"Yeah, pitied," Rachel said grimly. "They're walking killing machines. Look at them!"

However our attention was quickly diverted to the new creatures which crawled and slithered out of the blade ship, giant centipede-like creatures. "_Taxxon-Controllers,_" Elfangor said, still trying to explain all that he could before he died. "_They are evil._"

"Yeah, I think we would of guessed that," Marco muttered.

We watched as Hork-Bajir and Taxxons poured out of the ship, spreading out in the area to secure the perimeter, each of them holding pistol-shaped weapons which were likely Dracon Beams. One Hork Bajir approached our location, a very large one who stood practically on top of us. Jake was hugging the dirt like it was his last hope, while Marco's eyes were wide and his lips drawn back in an expression of pure terror as the Hork Bajir pointed its gun, scanning the darkness as his snake-like head swerved left and right.

"_Silence!_" Elfangor warned out. "_Hork Bajir do not see well in Darkness, but their hearing is very good!_"

The Hork Bajir moved closer, practically six feet away from our hiding spot now. I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, however I was trying everything I could to stay quiet. I wasn't the only one, as Jake and the others were doing everything they could to be as quiet as possible, but I could tell they were all scared shitless.

"_Courage, my friends,_" Elfangor said calmingly, as I felt a wave of… something, some kind of warmth and courage. I could still feel the fear, but it was being nullified.

I tried to think of something, anything I could do to help them, however then I saw a small rock sitting beside me. An idea struck my head as I picked up the rock, and looking at the distance I saw a metal beam several meters away from us. I then lobbed the rock at the metal beam. The Rock hit the beam, making a loud banging noise, which was enough to draw the Hork Bajir's attention as it turned its head away from us, and walked away to investigate.

I let out a silent sigh of relief. '_That felt WAY too close,_' I thought, before me and the others peaked over our cover just a bit, as we saw all of the Taxxons and Hork Bajir assembling around the Blade Ship, some of them standing stiffer than usual. "They're all standing at attention," Jake observed.

"How can you tell?" Marco whispered back. "Who knows what a Jelly-eyed centipede of a walking salad shooter from hell is standing at attention?"

"Not to different from humans apparently," I said, pointing at them ."Their all assembling around that ship… and their looking a lot more tense than before. I think this Visser Three guy is coming out to play."

Just as the words left my lips, _he _appeared. Visser Three, and an Andalite.

"_Visser Three,_" Elfangor said, almost as if cursing the very name.

"What the..." Rachel whispered. "Isn't he an Andalite?"

"_Only once has a Yeerk taken an Andalite Body,_" Elfangor said. "_There is only one Andalite-Controller, that one is Visser Three._"

Visser Three walked confidently towards Elfangor's wounded body, although they were the same species it was easy to tell the difference between the two. It appeared Visser Three was much more muscular, and seemed about a foot taller than Elfangor. But it wasn't just how he looked that was different, but how he felt. It was like he had some sort of aura of evil washing over him, like you could feel the very twistedness and foulness of his very soul.

'_Visser Three..._' I thought, my eyes narrowing as I looked at the monster. '_If the others don't get to you first… I will._'

"_Well well,_" A new voice said in our minds, causing the others to jump in fear.

"Can he hear our thoughts?" Melissa whispered.

"If he can we're so dead I don't even want to think about it," Rachel told her.

"_He cannot hear your thoughts,_" Elfangor said, "_As long as you don't direct them at him. You hear his thoughts because he is broadcasting them for all to hear. This is a great victory for him, so he wants all of his subordinates to hear._"

"_What do we have here?_" Visser three continued, walking towards him. "_A meddling Andalite? Ah, but no ordinary Andalite, Prince Elfangor-Sirinaial-Shamtul, if I am not mistaken. An honor to meet you, you're a legend. How many of our fighters have you shredded? Seven, or was it eight by the time it ended?_"

"I bet he got way more than eight," I said with a small smirk.

"I think so too," Jake said, nodding as he forced out a smile of his own to lighten the mood.

"_The very last Andalite in this sector of space,_" Visser Three mocked. "_Yes, I am afraid your Dome Ship has been destroyed completely, what was left of it burnt up in this little world's atmosphere._"

"_There will be others,_" Elfangor shot back, but Visser Three just laughed as he took another step forward.

"_Yes, but by then it will be too late,_" he said. "_When they come, this planet will be mine! My own contribution to the Yeerk Empire. Our greatest conquest, and then I'll be Visser One!"_

"So Visser is a ranking structure..." I whispered, making sure the others could hear me "Visser One must be the top rank a Yeerk can gain."

"_What do you want with these humans?_" Elfangor asked. "_You have your Taxxon Allies, your Hork-Bajir Slaves, and the other slaves from other worlds! Why these people?_"

"_Because there are so many, and they are so weak!_" the Yeerk-Controlled Andalite sneered, "_Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what is happening! With this many hosts we can spread through the galaxy, the universe even! We will be unstoppable! Billions of us! We'll have to build a thousand new Yeerk Pools to raise enough Yeerks for half this number of bodies, and hundreds of ships just to transport them across the stars! Face it Andalite, your kind have fought well and bravely, but you have lost!_"

Visser Three stepped right up to the Andalite, we could feel the Andalite's fear. But rather than cower, he fought the pain of his wound and climbed to his feet. He knew he was going to die, but he wanted to die on his feet looking his enemy in the face.

However, Visser Three was not done taunting his foe. "_I promise you one thing, Prince Elfangor - when we have this planet, with its rich harvest of bodies, we will move against the Andalite home world. I will personally hunt down your family, and I will personally oversee the placement of my most faithful lieutenants in their heads. I hope that they will resist, so I can hear their minds screaming for mercy._"

I let out a growl of anger towards Visser Three. I knew the bastard was evil, but _this _was a whole new level of low. Visser Three wasn't just evil, he was arrogant and a all-out monster. '_You are SO fucking dead when I am done with you!_' I snarled in my mind.

However, from the back of my mind felt a strange tingling sensation, like someone were watching you from behind. I glanced back, and I could of sworn I saw a shadow move behind us, however as soon as I saw it, it was gone. '_It was nothing,_' I thought. '_Just getting too paranoid here..._'

* * *

**POV Unknown**

* * *

Behind the debris in the sight, I snarled and placed a hand to a headset on my head. "You were right!" I whispered. "It looks like that things are starting to take a turn for the worse for Elfangor down there."

"_I thought so!_"a voice responded. "_Is the injured alien gonna fight back?_"

"I think so," I said. "But for now, we can't move in."

"_What do you mean?_" a second voice demanded. "_We have a clear shot at the bastard! We can save Elfangor!_"

"Those aren't the terms _he_ gave us!" I hissed, "We are not allowed to intervene yet, we can just watch… this is a very important moment, this is the one thing we _cannot _change no matter what, its too important."

He snarled and I heard his fist slam against something metal. "_Dammit!"_ he spat.

I knew how he felt, but right now we needed to wait for the right time. But if there was one thing that we _could_ do, it was get those kids to safety. I looked down at my gear and finally spotted something. I grabbed the binoculars and lifted them up to my eyes.

The one good thing about these was that they could zoom in on the scene unfolding. And what I saw made me shiver in my gear.

* * *

**Jordan POV**

* * *

Then, in a split second, Elfangor struck! His tail whipped up and over so fast you couldn't even see it, practically at the speed of a bullet. Visser Three twisted his head aside, causing Elfangor's blade to miss his head by a bare inch and a half, but it still hit his shoulder, slicing a nice deep slash as dark green blood sprayed from the wound, and Visser Three shouted in pain.

"Yes!" Jake hissed, and I grinned. And at the same time, a blinding beam of blue light shot from the tail of the Andalite Ship, which sliced into the nearest Bug Fighter. As the Taxxons and Hork Bajir scattered while what little of the Bug Fighter that wasn't vaporized fell to the ground in a satisfying explosion.

"Haha! Nice!" I said, my voice being drowned out by the sound of the explosion, even Marco had a smirk on his face.

"_Fire!_" Visser Three shouted. "_Burn his ship!_"

The night exploded in blinding lights, as a quad of red beams lanced from the Blade Ship and the remaining Bug Fighter, impacting against the Andalite ship, causing a chain of explosions followed by what was left of the Andalite ship to dissolve and disappear, the second Bug Fighter then wasting no time as it destroyed what was left of the crashed Bug Fighter.

Then, in the flash and glow of the Dracon Beams, I could see humans, a small group of them were in the shadows behind Visser Three. "There _are_ people over there..." Jake whispered.

"What?" Marco asked sounding surprised. "Are they prisoners?"

"More likely Human-Controllers," I said as Visser Three glared at Elfangor, who was looking rather pleased with his handiwork against the Yeerks. "_Take the Andalite,_" the Yeerk Commander ordered his soldiers. "_Hold him for me._"

* * *

**POV Unknown**

* * *

"_Did you see that?! Did you fucking see that!?_" he shouted.

"I saw it, all right!" I snapped. "And that means that he's gonna go down fighting! Our cue is coming shortly!"

He was silent and behind the debris, I saw him slip into the object behind the beams. The next thing I knew I heard the distinct hum of the weapon swinging about. Thankfully the commotion concealed the sound from the sharp ears of the Hork Bajir. One of my other companions ran for the nearest spot where she had stashed something three weeks prior. I knew what it was, having seen her dispatch one of the guys to get at it.

She had it out of the dirt in a flash and was dumping the topsoil back into the pit. She hefted the weapon and I waved a hand. "Not yet," I said. "Wait for it…"

* * *

**Jordan POV**

* * *

Three Hork-Bajir grabbed Elfangor and held him down, grabbing his arms and his tail blade, and holding their sharp blades at his neck. However I knew they would not kill Elfangor - that 'privilege' belonged to Visser Three alone.

Then me and the others watched, in horror, as Visser Three began to _morph._ This is the first time I had ever seen anything morph… and it scared the shit out of me. Visser Three's head began to grow larger and larger, his four horse-like legs merged into two massive legs which were bigger than redwood trees, and the Andalite Arms transformed into tentacles. And in its bloated hideous head, a mouth appeared, filled with teeth as long as a human's arm, and the mouth just became wider and wider, becoming a monstrous, and terrifying grin.

"This isn't real," Cassie whispered close to tears. "This isn't real."

"R-r-r-r-a-a-a-w-w-w-w-g-g-g-g!" The fully morphed abomination Visser Three had become roared, in a voice so loud we had to cover our ears, I could feel my teeth rattling from the sound of the roar, and I could hear some of the others whimpering in fear.

I didn't blame 'em, 'cause I was barely holding it together myself. Reading about something horrible was one thing, but actually witnessing it with your own two eyes - _and _knowing what would happen next…

"R-r-r-r-a-a-a-w-w-w-w-g-g-g-g!" The beast roared out again, the beast making the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons harmless in comparison. It then reached out with one thick tentacle and grabbed the Andalite by the neck.

"No, no, no, no, no, no..." Cassie whispered over and over again, they all knew what was going to happen next. Melissa was in a similar state, her eyes wide in horror and shaking her head, obviously wanting to wake up for this nightmare.

"Don't look," Rachel said, as she put her arms around Cassie's shoulders and held her close, and then she reached out and held Tobias's hand. I did my best to help Melissa as well, but the most I could do was put a hand on her shoulder, and tried to get her to look away. But she resisted, as she knew - she _knew _she had to see this. Just as I knew I had to as well.

We watched helplessly, as Visser Three lifted Elfangor straight into the air, tearing him from the grasp of the Hork-Bajir. The Andalite Prince struck again and again with his tail blade, but each strike was doing little to nothing against the beast's thick hide, as Visser Three held Elfangor in the air, and then he opened his mouth wide.

"You filthy..." I heard Jake growl as he began to jump to his feet, snatching up a piece of rusted iron pipe from the ground and started to climb over the wall.

"Get down!" I hissed, as me and Marco grabbed Jake by his shirt before he could get far, and pulled him back as Tobias helped keep him down, and Rachel put a hand over his mouth.

"Shut up you idiot!" Marco hissed. "You're just going to get us all killed!"

"Jake, don't!" Cassie said, putting her hand on his cheek. "He doesn't want you to die for _him,_ Don't you realize? He's dying for _us._"

"Let him die with some honor, Jake," I said cryptically, causing some of the others too look at me oddly. I was staring at the scene, watching it unfold before my eyes, which were slowly beginning to water up. "He's doing this, so we may live to fight another day… which I _intend _on doing."

Then, I watched as Visser Three dropped Elfangor into his mouth, and the teeth of the great best ripped him apart, as Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul died before my very eyes, all of us hearing his cries of despair echoing through our heads. Cries we would _never _forget. My fists were clenched so badly I could of sworn they were bleeding now.

While some of the others turned away, I continued to watch as Human and Hork-Bajir controllers laughed and cheered at the Visser's 'Great Victory', while the Taxxons scattered and tried to consume whatever pieces of the Andalite's flesh were not consumed by the Visser.

Then, Visser Three began to morph out, as he began to return to his Andalite dody "_Ah,_" he said. "_Nothing like a good Antarean Bogg morph for… taking a bite out of your enemies._"

The Hork-Bajir and Humans began laughing again, finally I turned away as I saw Marco was about to lose his lunch. "Guys," I whispered. "Get ready to run."

Marco finally lost his lunch, and the sound of him throwing up caught the attention of the closest Hork-Bajir who's snake head turned to our direction, perfectly still as its near-sighted eyes narrowed towards us, trying to make us out from the shadows.

However, just before I gave the word to run, I heard a feminine voice shout out 'FIRE!' followed by the sound of a rocket...

* * *

**POV Unknown**

* * *

I tensed, watching with disgust and horror in my eyes. I wanted so badly to order the one word, but I didn't. The terms were set, and I needed to follow them. Off to my side, she was shaking so badly she nearly dropped the weapon, only to grab it at the last minute. She put it back on her shoulder and aimed the barrel at the large creature's back. I didn't know if this beast could stand up to an RPG-7 blast, but once Elfangor was dead, then we had free reign here.

And it was best while we took a chance.

After all, no doubt the creature wouldn't expect a group armed with human weapons to fight back so effectively.

The beast held up the dying prince, and I watched as he slashed repeatedly at it, but not doing much harm. My heart was pounding like crazy as I watched, unsure if I could bear to watch. But I had to.

It was the right thing to do.

The creature once known as Visser Three opened his mouth wide...and dropped the Andalite warrior right in. The carnage that followed still haunts me to this day, but it was worth it, I know. The beast began to chew, devouring Elfangor whole.

I gave the order.

"FIRE!" I shouted.

She perked up and nodded. She aimed the RPG-7 and held it steady before pulling the trigger. The shaped charge rocketed out and arced forward right for the creature's thick back, although Visser Three was already half-way demorphed, he was still mostly whatever beast he morphed into.

The grenade exploded against the thick hide, scorching the flesh, but doing nothing more but it was just enough, as the beast felt the pain none the less.

Visser Three roared both using the beast's mouth and thought-speak, which acted as my own cue. I aimed my gun and took sight at one of the Hork-Bajir, pulling the trigger a second later. The Hork-Bajir closest to the group lost its head, splattering brains everywhere. I only hoped they took this chance to bolt before they got caught.

* * *

**Jordan POV**

* * *

"What the?" Jake shouted in shock as a rocket appeared out of seemingly nowhere, which hit Visser Three while he was in mid-morph, his cries of pain echoing in both sound and in thought-speak. "_GAAAAAAHHH!_"

While the Controllers were still in confusion as to what just happened, there was a loud _CRACK _of a sniper rifle, which was followed by the closest Hork-Bajir that was glaring at us losing its head completely, blasting into a fountain of flesh and blood.

I was stunned, as I knew _this _never happened in the book, but I knew that I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. I turned the others. "RUN!" I shouted. "SPLIT UP!"

_That _finally snapped them out of their stuppor, as we ran away as fast as our feet could carry us, everyone going in a different direction _away _from the construction site, however I ended up running with Tobias and Melissa running beside me as we just ran and ran until about what felt like an hour passed, and we stopped to finally catch our breath in an alleyway.

"Are… are you two… alright..." I said, panting as I tried desperatly to catch my breath, Tobias and Melissa in a similar state.

"Y-Yeah… I-I guess..." Tobias said. "I… I never had… to run… like that be… before..."

I nodded in agreement, before I turned to Melissa, whose face looked rather shell-shocked, with wide eyes and an expression of disbelief.

"Melissa?" I said, once I gained some of my breath back to the point I was heaving for ai. "Melissa, you alright?" I snapped my fingers in front of her face, which finally snapped her out of it as she shook her head, and looked between me and Tobias. "Wha… huh?" she said.

"You alright Melissa?" I repeated, needing to make sure she was alright. "I know what happened back there wasn't pretty..."

Melissa was silent for a few moments, but she finally nodded her head. "I… I'm fine..." she whispered. "I-I can't believe this is happening..."

"Neither can I..." Tobias said. "But who shot that rocket? And who fired that rifle that killed that… that Hork-Bajir thing?"

"Don't know," I said being completely honest. "But whoever they were likely saved our asses in the process."

"You… you think there are others?" Melissa asked. "P-People who… know about those… those things?"

"It's possible," Tobias said with a long and tired sigh. "So… what now?"

"Right now, we _all _need to go home," I said firmly, looking up at the dark skies. "Your families might start to worry if your not home soon, its gotta be 'bout eight or nine right now. I think I may of parked my truck nearby here, so I can give you all a lift if you need it."

Melissa didn't seem too sure at the mention of her parents, and neither did Tobias. I knew why, but they didn't seem to complain about a free ride home, or why I had a truck parked so far from the Mall. They both agreed to come with me, and soon we reached my truck, and following their directions I dropped each of them off at their homes before I myself headed back to the house the Ellimist set me up with.

After I parked my truck, and locked the house down, I immediately headed to my bedroom, flopped down in bed, and tried to get some sleep. However my first few minutes were not very successful, as I continued to replay that moment of Elfangor dying over and over again. I tried to fight back the tears, but they were slowly beginning to overcome me.

'_I could've saved him..._' I thought. '_He could've been saved..._' I continued to think this, however at the same time I knew that I was wrong. I _couldn't _of saved Elfangor, and even if I could…I still couldn't. I knew deep down, that Elfangor's death _needed _to happen, Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, Marco, even Melissa and Me… we _all _needed to see what happened this night. We needed to see what we were facing.

'_He will be avenged,_' I thought to myself, my eyes narrowing. '_Elfangor will be avenged… and not just him, but so will everyone else… everyone the Yeerks had killed or enslaved. We will avenge and save them all… this I promise._'

A few minutes passed, and finally, _somehow _I drifted off into dreamless sleep.

* * *

**POV Unknown**

* * *

The team met back with me several klicks away from the construction site, all of us standing by our vehicle, a Hummer H1. "Good shot," I said to my teammate.

She hefted the RPG-7 and dumped it in the back of the Hummer. "Yeah. But who knows if he'll be after us…" she murmured.

The driver snorted. "As if. Remember, we have our own base of ops elsewhere. And that's why no one can find it."

"That may be true," the other passenger said. "But for right now, it's best if we fall back until further notice."

I dumped my rifle into the back and slipped behind the wheel, the driver slipping out and getting in the back of the cab. "All right. Good job, guys. We got them out and we showed Visser Three who he's up against. Not just the kids, but also us."

The man beside me snorted and folded his arms. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. Now let's get the hell outta here before the cops show."

I nodded and we headed out, slipping into the night undetected. But as we headed back, I noticed a pickup heading in a different direction, the kid I heard called Jordan behind the wheel. I wondered briefly if we'd meet again. However as I thought about it, I smiled a bit as I realized that, if things turned out the way I believed they would… yes, we _will _be meeting each other very, very soon.

'_Take care, Animorphs,_' I thought. '_Just remember… you're not in this thing alone this time._'

* * *

**117Jorn: And there you have it! Chapter 2 is DONE! And may I now introduce the new Co-Author of ATR: Titanic X!**

**Titanic X: Glad to be here, Jorn! I've loved this series as a kid, and I still love it now, even though I no longer have the books. Still, it'll be fun to see how things turn out now with some new people on the team! And besides, this time thing's are gonna be more realistic with possible all-out war scenes involved. So expect some really intense battles later on in the series~!**

**117Jorn: That's right, and also I would like to repeat that I refuse to follow in the footsteps of those who ripped off Phoenix004, like MeClara1234 and AngelFlay01. Retaliation will be VERY different from how Travels was conducted, especially now that chapter 2 is out of the way. Things will begin to go in a very different direction from where Phoenix004 was going, with plenty of surprises, twists and turns and many other things!**

**Titanic X: Such as my character's appearance and the attack she pulled. Didn't see that one coming, didja?**

**117Jorn: I doubt so. I respect Phoenix004's work, his work is what got inspired to work on Animorphs Fanfiction, and fanfiction all together. If this were a few years ago and I was young to Fanfiction, I might of done it. But I have matured much since then, and I won't make mistakes like that. **

**Titanic X: That's good. Might as well end it here, though before we start rambling!**

**Both: Ja Ne!**

**117Jorn: Also, one last note. I will no longer be accepting Anonymous Reviews as of this chapter, because I had to delete some reviews who were spamming me about copying Phoenix004's work, and each review was VERY similar to one another. So, if you want to review, please use your profile, and DON'T be Anonymous otherwise they will be deleted regardless.  
**


	3. Chapter 3: Decisions and Morphs

**Jordan's POV**

After a night of sleep, finally the sun began to rise of the horizon, as the sun's rays hit my eyes though the window. I groaned a bit as I finally woke up '_Well… here we go again._' I thought as I sat up in my bed, and cranked my neck a bit before standing up. '_Another day in the Animorphs world… let's hope I can survive it._' I guess I was pretty fortunate I didn't have any dreams about what happened last night, or rather Nightmares. God knows if I did I wouldn't have gotten _any _sleep last night.

I spent the first hour going through my normal routine like I would back at home. Shower, get dressed, breakfast, the usual. I then spent time looking at a map of the area where I and the Animorphs lived in that the Ellimist managed to provide me here in the house. Thankfully he took the time to place markers on where everyone's house was, so I could memorize where each one was at.

However, as I was looking through the map, I heard the phone going off causing me to blink '_Who knows my phone number?_' I thought, as I heard it ring. However I decided to answer it, as I picked it up "Hello?"

"_Hey, is this Jordan?_"

"Yeah?" I said. "This is…?"

"_It's me, Tobias,_" the person said. "_Remember? We met at the Mall and the construction site?_"

I blinked and thought back, and then I remembered I gave Tobias my phone number while we were at the mall. "Ah, right! Tobias," I said. "Good to hear from ya man, what's up? You alright?"

"_Yeah, but I barely got any sleep,_" he said. "_With everything that's happened… look, are you doing anything today?_"

"Uhh, no actually," I said, leaning back in my chair. "I was going to try and find you and the others from the site… I think it goes without saying we need to discuss our next move."

"_Yeah,_" Tobias said. "_I was going to head over to Jake's house… we need to get his opinion on this thing. You want to come with me?_"

"Sure," I said, looking on the map for where Jake's house was listed. "What's the address?" Tobais gave me the address and I followed it on the map, and sure enough it was listed as 'Jake's house' already; I used a marker and circled it. "Alright, I'll see you there… by the way… have you tried… _that _yet."

Tobias was quiet for a moment, before he answered. "_I did,_" Tobias said, I could hear the excitement in his voice ."_I morphed Dude, my cat._"

I blinked. "You named your cat Dude?" I asked. I remembered it from the book, but actually hearing someone naming their cat Dude…

"_I was younger when I named him!_" Tobias said defensively and I chuckled a bit.

"Its alright man, I understand," I said. "My grandma named her cat Daisy, only to find out it was a boy cat at the last minute. Dude ain't the weirdest name I've heard."

Tobias laughed a bit himself "_So, what about you?_" he asked. "_Have you morphed yet?_"

I paused for a moment, not sure how to answer that. Should I tell him I acquired Elfangor already? I hadn't had the chance to morph him yet, but I knew I had to get use to the whole morphing thing sooner or later.

"Not yet," I said, "I need to find something good to morph into… if what he said is true, we can morph into any living creatures, but I'd rather my first morph _not _be something like a fly or a mosquito."

I could tell Tobias shivered at that. "_Tell me about it,_" he said. "_Trust me when I say this: morphing Dude was freaky. I don't even want to think what morphing into a bug will be like._"

"Yeah," I said nodding. "Well, I'll see you at Jake's house. See ya."

"_See ya,_" he said, and we both hung up.

A few minutes passed, and I once again found myself in my new truck, heading down the road back into town, looking at the map as I followed its directions to Jake's house.

It didn't take too long for me to drive up into Jake's neighborhood, I drove the Ford through the street as I spotted Jake's house quickly. I drove a bit further away, looking for a good parking space which was a few blocks away. By the time I successfully parked and walked back to Jake's house, I arrived just as Tobias was walking up to the house's driveway.

"Yo!" I said, raising my hand as Tobias approached. "So this is Jake's house?"

"Yeah," Tobias said nodding as we walked up towards the front door. "He and his family's lived here for a while now." With that, he rang the doorbell, a few moments passed before the door opened, and Jake's mother opened the door. She instantly recognized Tobias and smiled. "Tobias! Its good to see you!" she said, before she noticed me. "Who is this?"

"This is Jordan, he's a friend," Tobias said, and I nodded. "Me and Jake met him the other day at the Mall."

"Its nice to meet you Mrs. ****," I said politely nodding my head. (**AN: I know most people reading this already know Jake and his family's last name, but for the sake of those who don't… not telling.**)

Jean smiled a bit. "Nice to meet you as well, Jordan," she said. "I think Jake is still asleep, but I'll see if I can wake him up. Come on in!"

We both nodded as we stepped into Jake's house, it was pretty nice I guess. Just your ordinary house with a living room, kitchen and all of that.

"Hey Tobias," a voice said, and another person walked towards us. Looking at him, I immediately recognized him as none other than Jake's older brother, Tom.

A confirmed Human-Controller.

"Hey Tom," Tobias said, smiling a bit as he nodded. "How ya been?"

"Pretty good," Tom said nodding. "Same old same old I guess." He then glanced at me, a small eyebrow raised. "And you are…?"

"Jordan," I said, forcing up a smile as I extended my hand to shake his, "I'm Tobias's friend. Are you Jake's brother?"

Tom smiled. "Yeah, nice to meet you," he said, as we shook hands. But I knew what Tom _really _was behind the human mask he held, another Yeerk in disguise. But I knew Tom himself was a good guy, and I had every intention to save him from his fate in the books. '_Soon Yeerk… soon._' "Nice to meet you too." I said.

"You new around here?" Tom asked, and I nodded. "Yeah," I said. "I moved in a few weeks ago, I use to live in South Carolina, but I moved here."

"Really? Nice," Tom said nodding, "You move here with your family?"

I shook my head. "Nah, moved here alone," I said. "I graduated from High School last year, been living on my own thanks to the money my parents left me when they… left."

"Oh, sorry to hear that," Tom said, very convincingly trying to sound sympathetic. But I reminded myself he was just another Yeerk _acting _sympathetic, and would likely try to get me to join 'The Sharing' and try and put a Yeerk in my head. "Where do you live?"

"In the woods, around some mountains," I said, trying to be as vague as possible without sounding too suspicious. "I have a house there, use to be a vacation house my parents used, but they gave it to me after I graduated."

"Nice," Tom said. "Say, since you're new here… maybe you could come with me and my friends to the beach tonight? I'm with a group called The Sharing, and they're having a barbeque down there."

'_And, there it is._' I thought. '_Trying to get a Yeerk in my head already, eh Tom?_' However, I had to play it cool and I smiled. "That sounds nice," I said. "I might be able to show up."

"Sweet!" Tom said smiling. "A lot of other people are gonna show up." He then blinked as he looked over my shoulder, looking out the window. "Is someone there?"

**POV Unknown**

Outside the house, I sat perched on a tree branch, binoculars held to my eyes. I could definitely tell by the eyes on one of the people that there was a Yeerk among them. And judging by the looks of things, I could take a wild guess that it was the boy talking with Jordan.

My companions all sat huddled behind the nearest window, one of them listening in through the open window. She turned to me and flashed the thumbs up. The voice analyzer we had was definitely picking something up, and it wasn't real sympathy according to the data we reviewed later.

The person closest to her pulled back and nodded. "_So far things are looking like you were right. That Tom kid is definitely a Yeerk prisoner,_" he said over the comm.

"That's right. But we mustn't make a move just yet. We need-" My voice trailed off as she waved her hand to be silent. She waved us over and I hopped out of the tree, landing on the grass and darting over silently. By the time all four of us were there, we heard everything that we needed to know.

"Oh yeah. Definitely this Sharing thing," he muttered. His entire body was tense as he looked at us. "Do you think we should follow?"

"You already know the answer to that one," I said.

His partner just shrugged. "Like we got a choice…" he said softly.

"Hey. You know the deal. Besides, we have a chance to make a difference here!" I hissed.

Suddenly, we all tensed as we heard Tom's voice filter out the window. "Is someone there?"

I looked at my friends. "Scatter!" I hissed.

She ran off to hide in the brush while I clambered back up the tree to hide amongst the leaves. I saw the two boys hide behind a parked truck in the nick of time as the Yeerk poked Tom's head out the window.

"Was someone there?" Jordan's voice asked.

"Probably just a bunch of neighborhood kids," Tom said before he closed the window behind him.

**POV Jordan**

After speaking with Tom, Jake's mom managed to get Jake awake, and after saying goodbye to Tom I followed Tobias to Jake's room. It pretty looked just as I imaged it, just your average teenager's room with posters, desks and a computer. I mentally groaned as I saw how old the Computer looked, which by this universe's standards, must be fairly modern '_Right, 1998, no 2013._' I mentally reminded myself. '_Thank god the Ellimist gave me my stuff from back home._'

"Who are you?" Jake asked me, once we walked inside and I closed the door.

"What, you don't remember?" I asked, giving him an incredulous look. "Last night? Construction Site? Aliens invading?"

Jake blinked a bit as he thought back, he must of realized it then as he made an 'ah' look. "Right, uhh… Jordan, right?" he asked, and I nodded, smiling.

"Yeah," I said. "Glad to see you made it home in one piece Jake."

Jake just shook his head. "Yeah, uhh… so, why are you two here?" he asked as he began to yawn.

"I did it," Tobias said, as he looked like he was practically glowing. "I became Dude."

Jake stopped in mid-yawn, and his mouth snapped shut. "Huh?" he asked.

Tobias glanced around the room like there might be spies in the room (not to far from the truth if you asked me) "I _became _Dude!" he repeated. "Just like the Andalite said!"

Jake just stared at Tobias as if he had just grown a second head, while Tobias continued. "It was so amazing," he said as he started pacing back and forth, snapping his fingers and bursting with enthusiasm. "It didn't hurt or anything, I was petting him, and thinking about the whole thing last night, right? So I thought, why not give it a try? I didn't even know how to begin, so I just made sure the door to my room was locked. Fortunately, my uncle was still asleep."

The mention about his uncle caused me to slightly wince a bit, but thankfully Jake was too busy looking at Tobias, while Tobias was too busy explaining about his experience morphing for the first time. I remember how both Jake and Tobias explained his family, how he never knew his father and his mother left him a few years ago. He had to move in-between his aunt and uncle who live on opposite ends of the U.S, neither of them particularly caring about Tobias, thinking of him more as a burden than family.

The thought of it disgusted me a bit, how they would have such little care about their own family. I was considering that, if Tobias didn't like living with them anymore, I'd shoot him the offer of moving into my place. It was massive, had plenty of room, and it beats living with an un-appreciating aunt or uncle.

I then thought to how, or even if I should keep Tobias from being stuck in his hawk morph. One one hand, keeping Tobias from being stuck as a hawk would be a _huge _change in Animorphs. However at the same time there have been several instances where Tobias having a bawk for a body had helped the Animorphs tremendously, such as the Arc where they fool the Yeerks in thinking the Anti-Morphing Ray didn't work. It was a decision I knew I _had _to make sooner or later.

By that point, Tobias was in the process of explaining Dude's reaction to when he began morphing. "...seen the real Dude. He was going _nuts! _I had to put him outside before I morphed all the way, but he clawed me up pretty good. Thankfully I found out that Morphing actually heals wounds."

"Thank God for that!" I said with a small chuckle.

"Um… Tobias?" Jake asked. "Is it possible you maybe just dreamed this all up?"

"Not a dream," Tobias said, as he adopted a much more serious look as his grin disappeared. "It's all true, Jake… all of it."

"If you're still thinking its all a dream… why am I here?" I asked Jake, causing him to blink and look at me. "I was there, and we haven't met until last night. So unless I am some weird figment of your imagination Jake… everything that happened last night, _actually happened._"

"He's right," Tobias said, turning back to Jake. "I didn't dream this Jake, I just kept concentrating on changing and in a few minutes, I was… not myself anymore. You guys have no idea what it's like…Being a cat is so...it's… I can't even describe it. You're so strong, for one thing. Just all of this coiled power, and the way you can move! You know what I did? I jumped into my dresser three feet straight up in the air, and I landed like a feather. Three feet! You know how high that is when you're a cat? It's like a person jumping thirty feet straight up!"

Tobias then looked at Jake, who had a very confused look on his face. "You don't believe me, do you?" he asked.

Jake sighed. "Look… Tobias, its just..." he began. "It's just that sometimes its hard to tell the difference between something real and something you're just imagining or dreaming."

"We're not crazy, Jake." I said before Tobias could retort. "This isn't a dream, and last night wasn't a dream, unless we _all _shared that dream somehow simultaneously. I understand where you are coming from Jake, though. You don't _want _to believe last night happened. Aliens? Mind-controlling slugs? Morphing? Who wouldn't want to believe it. I don't want to believe it, but I have to because it's the truth. What about Visser Three? The Andalite Elfangor? Can you so easily forget what Elfangor did for us? Sacrificing his life so we might live?"

Jake seemed to wince a bit, as he didn't seem to 'pretend' the Andalite away. Tobias sighed as he put his hand on Jake's arm. "Stand right there," he said.

"What?" Jake asked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna help you decide whether it's real or not," Tobias said, smiling. Jake was about to protest, but Tobias cut him off. "Just wait, and don't scream or anything."

I began to smile once again, as I knew what was going to happen as Tobias stood still. At first, nothing seemed to happen...but then I noticed his eyes began to shift, his pupils were changing shape and gaining a reflective greenish light in them, turning into slitted cat's eyes. And then his mouth was starting to protrude a bit, puffing out. And then he started shrinking, honest to god shrinking. It was kinda weird to watch someone just… shrink, getting smaller and smaller as their clothes just started to fall off because he was so small. And as he shrank, I could see his fur beginning to grow over his hands, neck and face, grey striped black fur.

It was just so surreal actually seeing someone morph. It wasn't like when Visser Three morphed that giant Bogg creature thing at the Construction Site. I didn't feel scared. This time I felt excited. Tobias wasn't done, as his ears began to relocate to the top of his head becoming much more cat-like, and whiskers poking out from beneath his pink nose, and he was soon forced to drop to all fours as he grew out a long fur-covered tail.

Moments later, it was all over. And wiggling out of the mess of clothes appeared Tobias, as a cat. Jake's expression was priceless as he looked at Tobias with wide eyes and a look of pure disbelief on his face. "I hope I'm still asleep," he muttered. "I really do."

"_You're not asleep,_" Tobias affirmed, speaking through thought-speak, causing Jake to jump.

"Was that you?" he demanded at the cat. The whole seen looking quite funny from my perspective seeing Jake talking to a cat.

"_You can hear me?_" Tobias asked, sounding surprised.

"Yes," Jake said cautiously while I nodded myself.

"_I didn't know I could send thoughts like this,_" Tobias said. "_Just like the Andalite..._"

"Makes sense," I said nodding while both Jake and cat-Tobias looked at me. "From what we saw last night, Andalite's don't have mouths so they communicate through telepathy, through thoughts. Since they made morphing tech, they must of designed it with this in mind so any morph they acquire can possess the same telepathy Andalites have."

"_You think we can we use it out of morph too?_" Tobias asked.

I decided to give it a shot, as I tried to think the words. '_Do you hear this Tobias?_' However when he didn't respond I spoke. "No, doesn't look like it. I tried to think out-loud if you hear me, but since you didn't respond, you obviously couldn't…. we can only use the thought-speak when we're in morph it appears."

"_That sucks, but its better than nothing I guess,_" Tobias said. "_Hey, watch this!_" Suddenly Tobias leaped through the air, pouncing precisely on an autographed baseball lying in the corner in a four-feet jump. "_That was excellent! Hey, pull a string for me to chase!_"

Both me and Jake blinked at that, as we glanced at one another. "Why?" Jake asked.

"_Because its so fun!_" Tobias shouted, almost sounding like a little kid honestly.

I sighed before Jake could find a string, I decided to spare Tobias the embarrassment "Tobias… you're asking us to let you play with a piece of string," I said. "You know how weird that sounds?"

Tobias seemed to pause, as his tail twitched as he looked up at me, and then back at Jake. "_Uhh… s-sorry?_" he said, sounding rather sheepish. "_I don't know what came over me… it was like… I'm me but...I'm also Dude. I want to chase things… ah man, if there were only a real live mouse around! I'd love to track it! Follow it so quietly-_"

"Tobias, calm down," I said interrupting his thoughts, "I think we're learning some more facts about Morphing."

"_What do you mean?_" Tobias asked, tilting his cat head to the side looking confused. "_What is it?_"

"I don't think you're just Tobias while in morph," I said, "You are also a cat at the same time, with all of those cat instincts, since you want to do the things a cat would do. I remember reading up an article a while ago, something about Genetic Memory. It's a theory that the memories of one's ancestors are passed down into subsequent generations through DNA, which enables instinctive skills in animals. When you acquired Dude's DNA, you must have also acquired his genetic memories, instincts, of a cat. So you are in a way two minds in one body, the human mind, and the cat mind. But it looks like the cat mind can easily overcome a human mind if you're not prepared for it."

Both Jake and Tobias looked at me in surprise, before Tobias spoke "_Yeah, that kinda makes sense,_" he said. "_I can feel it. It's like I'm two different animals melded into one. I can think like a person _and _like a cat._"

"You'd better change back," Jake said, and Tobias nodded his cat head up and down, which to me looked very weird to see a cat acting so human. "_You're right,_" he said. as he began to morph back into his human form. I redirected my gaze since I knew none of the Animorphs had figured out how to morph clothes yet. I made a mental note to figure out how to morph clothes that _wasn't_ leotards or similarly tight clothes. I know it was possible, since the Andalite scientist Estrid-Corill-Darrath knew how to do it, so I made a mental note to figure out how it was possible.

Anyways, Tobias finished morphing back to human form, and quickly got back into his clothes. "Maybe after some practice we can figure out how to morph back _into _our clothes." He said.

"Amen," I said, nodding. "I guess the Andalites never thought about the need of morphing in clothes."

"Wait, wait wait… _we?_" Jake asked.

"Jake, don't you get it?" Tobias asked. "If I can do it, so can you! And so can Jordan and the others!"

Jake shook his head. "I don't think so..." he began, before I groaned.

"Jake, we just saw Tobias morph before our eyes," I said. "Everything that happened last night happened. Elfangor gave us these powers for a purpose, and I am a firm believer that thing don't 'just happen', _everything _has a purpose."

"Fine, then you use them!" Jake snapped, but Tobias shook his head.

"We will, but we need you most of all Jake."

"Why me?"

Tobias hesitated for a split second. "Geez Jake, don't you understand?" he asked. "I know what I can or can't do, I know my limits. I can't make plans and tell people what to do. I'm not a leader, you are."

Jake just laughed a bit rudely. "I'm not the leader of anything," he said, but Tobias just looked at Jake with his deep troubled eyes.

"Yes, Jake, _you _are our leader," he said. "You are the one who can bring us all together and help us defeat the Controllers. We have the ability to be much more than we are, to have the stealth of a cat, and… the eyes of an eagle, the sense of smell of a dog, and the speed of a horse or cheetah. We're going to need it all, if we have any hope of holding out against the Controllers."

I saw that Jake had a very conflicted look across his face, and who could blame him? This was the most important decision he would have to make. He may have wanted to not believe it was all true, but the facts were facts. He knew he had to take this role. "Well..." he said a bit grimly. "I guess I'd better find Homer."

I looked at my watch. "Sorry guys, I gotta go now," I said. "I got some things I need to take care of in town, you know a place where we can regroup with the others?"

"Cassie's barn would probably be the best place," Tobias said, as he told me the address. "It's outside of town, can't miss it."

"Thanks. See ya," I said, before I turned and left Jake's room, and then left the house. I would have stayed and watched Jake's first morph, however I knew I myself needed to conquer my first morph as well sooner or later. Not to mention there were things I need to prepare for tonight when I went to the Sharing meeting at the beach.

However, first things first: I needed to head to Cassie's barn, so I could find something to morph into.

After getting into my truck again, I made my way to Cassie's barn following Tobias's instructions. It wasn't that hard. In fact Cassie's barn wasn't that too long of a drive from where I lived.

I found a decent place to park, and I walked the rest of the way there. As I walked, I could see Cassie's barn coming up. It looked like your standard red barn with fences with cows and horses that were just being cows and horses. I then noticed there was a woman near one of the fences, and I made a wild guess that it was Cassie's mom. She appeared to be tending too large a bird, some type of Hawk I believed.

"Hello!" I said, deciding I might as well introduce myself. The woman turned and smiled a bit.

"Well hello!" she said. "Who are you?"

"My name's Jordan," I said nodding. "I was wondering if Cassie were around here, Tobias told me she lived here?"

"Ah, your friends with Tobias?" she asked, and I nodded. "Nice to meet you, I'm Michelle, Cassie's mother."

"Nice to meet you," I said, as we shook hands, before I looked at the hawk. "Is that a… Goshawk?" I asked, briefly recalling the bird-of-prey from one of my old Zoobooks from when I was a kid.

"Indeed it is!" Michele said, a bit surprised but still smiling. "A Northern Goshawk to be precise. You know you're zoology."

"I just remember things I picked up as a kid," I said, chuckling slightly. "I loved animals when I was a kid, still do I guess." It was then I noticed some sort of bandages around one of its wings. "What happened to it?"

"We found her in the forest a week ago," she answered as she gently stroked the Goshawk's feathers. "She broke her wing somehow, so we brought her here to the Clinic to heal her up. She should be ready to fly in a week or two more."

"Ouch..." I said, wincing slightly. I once broke my leg when I was a kid, it hurt like hell. I raised my hand, and began to stroke his undamaged wing. "She's beautiful though."

The Goshawk made a brief shout, causing me to blink and Michele to laugh a bit. "She liked the compliment," she said. "Would you like to hold her?"

"S-Sure," I said nodding, as she handed the bird to me. I remembered hold to hold a bird like a hawk from some school field trip a few years ago, as I let the Goshawk rest herself on my bare arm. She was an amazing animal, looking so powerful. It was no wonder Tobias liked Hawks so much.

I also saw this was the golden opportunity. I was looking for to get my first bird-of-prey morph, so I focused on the Goshawk, doing what I was instructed as I acquired the hawk's DNA. The Goshawk looked at me as I did the process, but it did not jump away, just appeared to be in a trance.

Just as soon as it happened, I successfully acquired the Morph. "She's amazing," I said. "Ya know when I was a kid I always wondered what it would be like to be a hawk."

Michele laughed a bit. "I believe many have wondered what it was like," she said before I handed the Hawk back to her. "Anyways, you should find Cassie in the Barn, probably with her friends Rachel and Melissa… also, if your interested, we could use some Volunteers here at the barn during the weekdays… if your interested..."

I actually kinda liked the offer, considering I didn't have much to do other than help the Animorphs against the Yeerks. So I thought… why not? "I'm interested," I said smiling. "I'd love to help out however I can!"

"Great!" she said excitedly. "We can use all the help we can get, we only have a few people around to help during the weekdays since most kids are at school. It would mean a lot if you could help out. Cassie can help you get situated."

"Thank you, and I'm happy to help!" I said, and after saying my goodbyes I headed for the Farm to find Cassie.

I walked up towards the barn itself, and as I approached I could hear voices coming from inside.

"This is… I don't even know what to say..." One voice, this one obviously from Rachel. "Cassie you're…"

"_A Horse?_" A thought-speak voice said, nearly causing me to jump a bit, but then I realized Cassie had likely just morphed horse for the first time. "_I know, its amazing!_"

"Great, a talking horse..." another voice, this one coming from Melissa said. "I think Marco would say something along the lines of 'this is insane' or something."

I walked up to the entrance, as I knocked on the door. "Hello?" I said, and I heard a series of hushed whispers. "Cassie? You in there, it's me, Jordan. You know, from uhh… last night?"

There was a short minute of silence, until the door creaked open and standing there was Rachel, who looked at me with a critical eye. "You… were with Tobias, right?" she asked, keeping an eye on me.

"Yeah," I said nodding. "You're Rachel, right? Cassie's friend? She's around here, right?"

Rachel nodded, and she glanced back inside, before she allowed me into the barn. Inside I found Melissa and a black horse inside, Melissa looked at me in surprise. However she smiled a bit. "Hello… Jordan," she said. "Nice to see you got home safely."

I smiled and nodded. "Hello Melissa," I said, "You alright? After what happened..."

She shook her head "No, I'm fine, I guess," she said. "Neither of my parents were home, so I didn't have to worry about being caught coming home late by them… I doubt either of them would care. Anyways, thanks for driving me home again."

"Don't mention it," I said nodding as I smiled. "After what happened, I doubt you'd want to walk the rest of the way home." Melissa nodded, but I didn't see a bit of red dusting her cheeks. "Anyways, where's Cassie?"

"_Right here,_" Cassie said, as the horse stepped forward, as I suspected. "_Good to see you again, Jordan._"

"Yeah, you too." I said. "I see you morphed your first animal."

"_Yeah, its amazing!_" Cassie exclaimed. "_I never felt so… alive! I feel so powerful in this morph! So fast!_"

I chuckled a bit before I looked at Melissa and Rachel. "What about you two?" I asked. "You morphed yet?"

"I did," Melissa said nodding. "I morphed my cat this morning… it was… well.. surreal!"

"I haven't yet," Rachel said shrugging. "Haven't found anything _to _morph into yet." She then glanced at me. "What about you?"

"Well..." I began, scratching the back of my head. "I haven't morphed yet… but I just now acquired the Northern Goshawk Cassie's mom was taking care of."

"_Well, you might as well try it out now._" Cassie suggested. "_Best to get it over with and out of the way._"

I gulped a bit, before I glanced away. "Well… I would..." I muttered. "But eehh… I can't exactly morph… clothes… so when I morph… back..." It got my message across, and Rachel sighed, Melissa seemed to blush a bit, while Cassie shook her horse head (which again, was kinda weird to watch).

"_Actually, you can,_" she said. "_But only skintight clothes, I found out earlier today. It's better than nothing though._"

"I'm… not exactly wearing skintight clothes, Cassie," I said, gesturing to my blue jeans and T-shirt.

"Just man up and morph," Rachel said, shaking her head. "We'll turn our heads away when you morph back."

I sighed, "Well… alright..." I said, gulping once again. This was it, my first Morph. I felt more nervous than I've ever been before. I took a deep breath, and I closed my eyes and focused. At first, nothing happened. But then I felt a strange itching sensation on my arms, opting me to open my eyes and I looked at my arms. It looked like my arms were becoming overcome with tattoos of bird feathers across my body being etched into my skin, believe me when I say it was freaking me out already, but I continued to focus. And then, suddenly the feathers rose to the surface, becoming genuine feathers and I found nearly my entire body was covered in them.

"Whoa..." I muttered, but it wasn't done yet. Then came the shrinking, my body was getting shorter and shorter, but it felt like I was falling on top of a mountain as everything around me started to look a lot bigger. I became so small that my clothes began to fall off me. I then felt my feet beginning to harden, and shift into sharp deadly talons, and I felt my mouth extend a bit, and my lips harden into a curved beak.

Finally about a minute later, the changes were complete, and after I escaped the tangle of what were my clothes… I was a Northern Goshawk.

The first thing I realized was my newfound field of vision. I was expecting to be able to see everything, but man was I able to see! I could see a fly sitting on an empty cage on the other side of the barn! I could hear the mice creeping throughout the barn, I could hear and see everything.

I immediately was hit by the Goshawk's instincts to go and make the closest mice into my next lunch, but I did what I could to fight them off.

"Jordan?" Melissa asked, as she, Rachel and Cassie were looking at me. "You alright?"

"_Yeah… I'm okay,_" I 'said' though thought-speak. "_Holy shit this is awesome! Man, these hawks can see EVERYTHING!_"

"_Bird's eyes are better than humans by far,_" Cassie said. "_Hence the term 'Birds eye view'. Are you feeling the animal instincts?_"

"_Yeah, but I think I got this,_" I said, as I raised my wings "_Now, let's see..._" Thanks to those same Hawk instincts, I flapped my wings, and rose up from the ground, flapping up into the air and landed on a nearby perch, with the increase of air, it was time for me to finally fly. "_See you girls in a minute… I gotta try my new wings!_" I said, as I raised my wings once again, and flapped them as hard as I could as I leaped up from the perch, and flew out the barn door. I continued to flap, struggling to find a thermal to carry me up into the sky. And then suddenly my hawk body felt a sudden rush of warm air from the ground, as I was suddenly lifted even further into the air! I stopped flapping and allowed my wings to ride out what was most certainly a thermal. The thermal took me straight up into the air, practically a Kilometer up! It felt like I was hover in place for a moment, and then I let the Hawk instincts tell me what to do, as I adjusted my tail feathers, pointed my head in one direction, and I soared forward.

The feeling, the rush of flying was unlike anything I had felt in my entire life. Never before had I felt so free, never before had I felt so alive! All my life I dreamed of becoming a pilot, to fly planes across the skies and fly like the birds. But now I was flying _as _a bird, and it was simply amazing!

"_THIS IS FRACKING AWESOME!_" I declared as I soared up as high as the hawk could take me. I felt as if I kept on going I would reach the clouds themselves! When I got as high into the air as I could, I tilted my tail feathers a bit to the left, and I pointed my nose down and I then entered a steep dive as I fell to the ground. Imaging being on the best roller coaster you have ever been on, only take away the carts and rails, and nothing stopping you from becoming a splat on the ground aside from the wings on your arms. That about sums up what I was doing.

Then, at the last minute, I pulled out of the dive as I flared my wings, and I used the momentum of the dive to allow me to glide a few meters from the treetops "_YEEEHAW!_" I shouted as I sped forward.

For a while, I just flew. I flew as far as my wings could take me. Eventually however, the reality that I knew I had to Morph out eventually came back to me, and I headed back to Cassie's barn, flying up through the rafters and landing back on the ground, where I noticed Cassie had left, but Rachel and Melissa were still there.

"'Bout time you got back," Rachel said with a smirk. "How was it?"

"_Freaking awesome!_" I said. "_Just flying in the air, without a care in the world! I LOVE Flying!_"

Rachel just shook her head, while Melissa giggled a bit. "Alright bird-boy," she said. "Better Morph out, remember the Andalite said two hours and you're stuck."

"_Right,_" I said nodding. "_Umm… turn around, please?_"

Rachel and Melissa did as asked as they turned away from me, as I demorphed. It was quick and easy, as I regained my human arms, legs, head and height. Once I was fully human I redressed back into my clothes. "Alright, I'm good," I said, as the two looked back. "Man, that was just crazy! Flying through the air… where did Cassie go?"

"She left to give her horse morph a test run," Melissa answered. "Get a feel for it. also Jake called and the others will be here in about a half hour or so, we need to discuss where we go next."

I nodded. "Sounds good," I said. "I think we all need to come to a final decision on what to do next."

**POV Unknown**

I peered through a hole in between two boards, my left eye squinted shut. "Yeah, all seven are gonna be present," I muttered.

My companions shifted as I moved aside, allowing the closest boy to peer in through the hole. He narrowed his brown eyes as he picked them out. "You made a good call," he said. "Just like earlier today." He then turned to look at me as we pulled away from the barn and snuck over to the trees a ways.

"All right." I said. "And sooner or later they'll be heading to check out the Sharing down at the beach. So here's the deal."

I turned to face my companions. "Steven, you and Vanessa see what you can dig up regarding any Yeerk activities. Anything could be useful."

Steven nodded, his eyes hard. At five foot eleven, he was pretty tall. He had short messy black hair and brown eyes that glinted with a keen intelligence. He was currently wearing a T-shirt that was blue on the top with green stripes on the sleeves and a white bottom with brown cargo shorts. He wore black combat boots on his feet to round off the outfit. He had a lean build, but that wiry frame was full of muscle, meaning that he was pretty scrappy for a teen.

Vanessa, the hacker of the team, stood at five foot eight, just an inch taller than me. She wore a white tank top with a picture of the Autobot logo on the front and on the back were the words _Til All Are One_. Her blue jeans were accented by the hiking boots she wore and on her left arm she had a tattoo of Earth's Cyber Planet Key. Her eyes were a dark blue and her hair was almost platinum blonde, a very rare thing for humans. But that wasn't very unusual in California.

"Right!" she said. She turned to Steven and nodded. "C'mon!"

"Not just yet!" I said.

The two hesitated but stayed where they were.

"Tony, you're going to do recon of all the known Yeerk pool locations. Make sure that no new ones have been built. If there are, let me know at once," I said.

Tony nodded. "I will," he said.

With a height of six feet five, Tony was a giant among us. And it didn't help much that he was a big guy when it came to sheer strength. Out of all of us, he was the strongest, so he usually did the heavy firepower during attacks. He was very muscular and powerfully built, accented by his broad shoulders and chest. He wore a green T-shirt that strained against his muscles and his blue shorts barely fit around his powerful legs. About the only thing that did fit were the combat boots he wore on his feet. His shaggy, yet short brown hair covered one of his eyes which had a nasty scar going across it, leaving him blind in that eye.

"All right. Now we can get to work!" I said.

The three nodded and we split up, Tony running for the Hummer and getting behind the wheel while Steven and Vanessa ran for the trees.

As for me, I ran back towards the barn and leaned back towards the hole, peering in.

Time to see what other information I could gather…

**Jordan's POV**

Roughly half an hour passed, and I just really chatted with Rachel and Melissa. It was interesting to get to know Rachel, since she was one of my favorite characters. Though learning a bit more about Melissa interested me as well, since the books only spoke so much about her, her only real appearance was in book 2, and even then K.A Applegate said she intended for her to be a 'throw away character', but so many people were concerned with what happened to her, it actually surprised her.

However, I fully intended to save Rachel just as much as I hoped to save Tobias. Her fate at the final Animorphs Book was one of the biggest things I intend to change, if not one of the most important.

The first to arrive at the barn was Tobias, who arrived a few minutes before Marco, who had a newspaper with him. I already knew what it was about, however he showed it to us regardless (and I still had to maintain my cover for now) which showed the police were after 'The kids launching fireworks at the construction site'.

"So, the Yeerks control some of the media," I said, looking through the news. "And they likely control some of the local police force as well."

"No mention of that incident with the rocket, let alone the Hork-Bajir killed," Tobias said as he skimmed it with me.

"They can just pass the rocket as another firecracker," I said. "Plus, if the Yeerks have those Dracon beam weapons that can disintegrate entire ships, they can likely destroy the remains of the walking confetti maker."

Tobias nodded. "Good point," he mused. "But that still leaves the question of who shot the rocket, or who killed that thing to begin with."

"It's likely the Yeerks are not as good as keeping this invasion a secret as they believe," I said, shrugging. "There may be a handful of people who know the Yeerks exist. It's impossible to instill a world-wide coverage of all Yeerk Activity. There must be leaks."

"Yeah, but I doubt people will believe anyone when they say alien slugs who control our minds are invading Earth," Melissa pointed out, and I nodded.

Eventually, Jake showed up as well, riding his bike. Rachel showed him the newspaper, and his reaction was exactly as I expected.

"But this is a total lie!" Jake said.

"Ding ding ding ding! Correct answer. Johnny, tell out contestant what he's won," Marco said, laced with sarcasm.

"Did you see the last part?" Rachel asked, as Jake read the last part of the newspaper.

"They're looking for _us,_" I said, beating Marco to the punch."The only reason that would be is that the Yeerks have controllers in both the Media _and _the Police Force."

"Probably not all of the cops," Tobias pointed out.

"If the police have been infiltrated by the Controllers, who knows how many others have, too?" Rachel asked. "Teachers? People in the Government? The newspapers and T.V.?"

"Math teachers, for sure," Marco joked, causing me to smile just a bit. The others just looked around nervously, like they were expecting to find themselves surrounded by controllers.

Rachel sighed. "I tried to tell myself it was all a dream," she said.

"Been there, tried that, didn't work," Jake said. Once again, for a while, no one said anything as the gravity the situation settled in.

Finally, Marco spoke up. "Look, why do we have to deal with this?" he asked. "I say we just forget about it. We never talk about it. We never _morph,_ we just deal with our own lives."

"And when the Yeerks take over, then what?" I asked, causing the others to look at me, as he looked back at Marco. "Lets say we _do _forget about this, let's say we forget about the Yeerks, the Andalites, the Morphing… then who's gonna fight the Yeerks if not us?"

"Hell, I don't know!" Marco shouted. "How about the military? Those guys that shot that Visser Three guy and that walking salad slicer? There has to be someone who's fighting these things!"

"Yeah, fighting _alone,_" I retorted. "Whoever these people are, they are very small in numbers otherwise we would of heard about them on the news before. And I doubt the military will be of much help, since if the Yeerks want to take control of our planet, they will want to take control of the military."

"Marco, I halfway agree with you-" Jake began to say, and then Marco went ballistic.

"We could get killed!" he shouted. "Don't you guys get it? You saw what happened to the Andalite. I mean, this is radical stuff, Jake. This is for real. Real! We could all get killed!"

Tobias looked at Marco with a sideways look, like he thought maybe Marco was some kind of coward, of course I knew better, and Marco had his reasons which were about to be explained as he shook his head, and spoke in a quiet voice. "Look, I think these controllers are jerks. But if something happens to me… my dad. He wouldn't be able to handle it. You can all think I'm a weasel if you want, I don't care. But if I get killed or something, my dad will flat-out die. He's only hanging in there because of me."

I sighed silently, but I kept my mouth shut for the time being. I looked out into the distance, and noticed a black horse galloping across the green grass. "There's Cassie," Rachel said, as she noticed her approach as well, the others looking in the direction we were looking as Cassie slowed down and trotted closer.

"Me, Cassie, Melissa and Jordan have been here for a while," Rachel explained. "She's really good at this, look at how fast she can do it."

The horse nickered softly, and then began to melt as the big brown eyes became slightly smaller, and the long muzzle became a human mouth and soon formed a much more human head soon after, which looked just like Cassie, who smiled at the others with big horse teeth "Hey kids," she said.

Marco suddenly sat down very hard, his eyes wide in shock as he looked at Cassie, never having seen a human morph yet.

I just continued to watch, as I saw Cassie morph. What they said in the books about her morphing were true, she obviously had full control of her morph as she was morphing out her upper torso first - thankfully with clothes, and for a few seconds she stayed half-horse half-human, looking very much like the Andalite in a way.

Knowing what was coming next, I looked down the road to the barn, and I could see in the distance a car driving towards us. "Oh shit!" I shouted. "Cassie, morph NOW! Car's coming!"

The others looked, and they could see the car coming too, and they could see the car was "Shit, its the cops!" Tobias shouted.

"Which way should I morph?"Cassie wailed, as she reared up slightly on her hind legs. "Human or horse?"

"Human! Human! Human!" Both me and Jake said at the same time, before he said. "Everyone stand in front of her!"

"And act casual!" I added, as we all stood side-by-side acting as a wall hiding Cassie, while acting as calmly as we could as the police car squealed to a stop, sending some gravel flying as a single police officer stepped out. Both me and Jake waved at him."Mornin Officer,"I said.

"Morning," the cop said, looking at us all. "You kids, uh… hiding something?"

I glanced at the others, before I looked at the officer. "Nope," I said. "We're not hiding anything officer."

"Step aside, all of you," the officer ordered, moving his hand. I shrugged, as I moved to the side, as did the others revealing Cassie… who was now 100% human.

The Officer looked a bit puzzled, however he just shrugged. "Can we help you officer?" Rachel asked in her best responsible voice.

"We're making some inquiries," he said, still keeping an eye on Cassie like something could be wrong. "We're looking for some kids who were shooting off fireworks in the construction site across from the mall last night."

"The ones on the Newspaper?" I asked, as Marco suddenly started coughing.

"Yeah, those," the officer said nodding, before he looked at Marco. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, he's fine," Jake said.

The officer just continued. "We want these kids, " he said. "We want them really bad. See, it was dangerous what they did, could of had someone hurt. So we want to find the kids."

I mentally groaned. This guy was _obviously _a Controller. I mean sure, if you didn't know about the Yeerks it wouldn't be so obvious, but when you _know _the Yeerks existed, it was so _painfully _obvious. "Why is that?" I asked. "I thought fireworks were legal in California, aren't they?"

"They are..." the Controller said. "But… they fired them off pretty close to the mall, so a stray firework could have hit someone."

"Well, I don't know anything about it," Jake lied. "All we know is from the newspaper."

The officer looked at Jake very close, and I could see he was beginning to sweat. "Hey, you know what?" he asked. "You look familiar… you know a young man named Tom?"

"Yeah, he's my brother," Jake said, as he was still trying to keep his cool. However the officer seemed to smirk a bit. "Tom's your brother, eh?" he asked. "Well, he's a good kid. I know him from the Sharing. I'm one of the adult supervisors. Great group, the Sharing. You should come to a meeting, we have one coming up tonight at the beach actually."

"Yeah, um, Tom invited me already," Jake said, and I nodded as well. "Same here., I said.

"We have a lot of fun."

"Yeah..." Jake repeated.

"Well, you call me if you hear anything about these kids in the construction site."the officer said, "I should warn you - they may come up with some wild story to conceal their guilt. But you're too smart to believe a bunch of crazy lies, aren't you?"

"He's a regular genius," Marco said, and the policeman nodded, got back into his car and then took off.

"Controller." I blurted out, causing the others to look at me. "What? That guy was practically _oozing _that he was a Controller! He was pressing way too hard about what happened last night!"

Rachel sighed. "Okay, either way, rule number one." she said. "We don't do anything to attract attention. We have to be secret about _everything, _especially morphing."

Cassie seemed to blush a bit in embarrassment. "Sorry… yeah, it was stupid of me," she said. "Its just… oh man! It was so amazing! Running like that, out in the open space, running and running!"

"How did you morph clothes?" Jake asked. "When me and Tobias did it… well, let's just say its a good thing neither of you girls were around."

"It took some practice," Cassie said. "And it can only be tight clothing. I tried it with a coat and it got shredded. I don't know what we'll do in the winter."

"That's not going to be a problem," Marco said firmly. "Because there isn't going to be anymore morphing."

"Maybe Marco is right," Rachel said, "This is too big for us. We're just kids. We need to find someone important to tell this too, someone we can trust!"

"We can't trust anyone," Tobias said flatly. "Anyone could be a Controller. We tell the wrong person, we are all dead. And the whole world will be doomed."

"I don't want to stop Morphing," Cassie said. "Do you realize all we could do with this power? We could communicate with animals, maybe. Help save endangered species!"

"Humans may be the next endangered species, Cassie," Tobias said quietly.

"What do you say, Jake?" Cassie asked.

"Me?" Jake asked, as he shrugged. "I don't know. Marco's right, we could all get killed. Rachel's right, this is too major for a bunch of kids." he then hesitated. "But… Tobias is right, too. I mean, the whole world is in danger, and we can't trust anyone."

"So what do we _do?_" Rachel demanded.

"Hey, its not up to me to decide!" Jake said hotly.

"Let's take a vote," Rachel said.

"I vote we try to live long enough to get driver's licenses." Marco said.

"Already got that," I said, pulling out my licence with a smirk. "I'm doing it. I promised Elfangor I would fight, so dammit I will."

"I agree with Jordan," Tobias said nodding. "I vote we do what the Andalite said: fight!"

"You've never been in a fight!" Marco sneered, before pointing at me. "And we've only known him for a barely a day! You can't handle the punks at school, and now suddenly you want to kick butt on that Visser Three Freakazoid?"

"Our names won't be remembered if we die like trampled flowers," I said suddenly, causing the others to look at me oddly. "I refuse to be forgotten, and written off as less than worthless. We can scream and cry but no one will hear us, plead and beg but no one will help us. I am not going to live as cattle to the Yeerks, and I am going to rise and fight the battle!"

I then looked at them all. "The Yeerks are being that will live off our fears, their words will be like knives as they play with the lives of human beings," I said. "They will try to control us as if they own us, are you telling me you will just _let _them steal our freedom?"

"Not me," I continued, shaking my head. "I will channel this anger that swells inside me, and fight the boundaries till I break through. Deep in my soul there is no hesitation, so I will make myself the one that the Yeerks will one day all fear! I am going to start a wildfire that the Yeerks can't hope to extinguish, I will use the power the Andalite gave us to rip apart the Yeerks one by one… because as far as I can tell… this is the moment for war."

When I was finished, the others all looked at me stunned for a minute or two, however Tobias was smiling as he nodded.

"I-I agree with Jordan," Melissa said, speaking up for the first time for a while, causing Rachel and Cassie to look at her surprised. "We can't just stand by and let the Yeerks win…if we don't, who will?"

"Yeah, I agree!" Rachel said, nodding. "I'm voting with Tobias and Jordan, I wish we could dump this all on someone else, but we can't."

"L-Let's just think it over for a while," Cassie said with a slight stutter. I guess she was taken aback by my speech I guess. "This is still a big decision, I mean… its not like we're deciding whether to wear jeans or a skirt."

"Yeah, let's wait for a while," Jake said, sounding a bit relieved. "In the meantime, no one say anything to anyone. We just go back to normal life."

I glanced at Marco expecting to see him smirking like he was in the book, but oddly enough he wasn't. He was still looking at me surprised. Tobias was still blushing as he sent a grateful look at Rachel, while Melissa was just looking at the ground a bit.

Soon after, Jake and Marco left, and Tobias sighed as he looked at me "Thanks," he said. "For supporting me with Rachel… that was a great speech you said."

I chuckled a bit sheepishly as I scratched the back of my head "It was nothing, really," I said. "It… just came to me off the top of my head. I just felt like I had to say _something._"

"It was pretty good," Rachel said with a small smirk. "You got Marco to think twice at least. That counts for something." She then glanced at Melissa. "But Melissa… why do you want to fight? You never struck me as someone who'd jump for a fight."

"I said I couldn't just sit by, and let the Yeerks win," Melissa said firmly. "And I won't let you and the others fight alone! Y-You're my friend Rachel, I… I know we haven't been hanging out a lot recently… but…"

Rachel looked at Melissa with a surprised look, before she smiled and gave her a sisterly hug which surprised Melissa. "Thanks Melissa," she said. "I'm glad you're with me on this. And its alright, besides I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot more time together now."

I myself smiled a bit, as I was glad that Melissa and Rachel were beginning to repair their friendship. "Well," I said as I looked at Cassies barn. "While we're here… might as well see what we can acquire morph-wise..."

**Vanessa POV**

Steven and I ran through the trees, finally coming to a particular spot where we couldn't see the woods. I knew that we had reached the base at that point. I glanced back at him and nodded. He returned the nod and the two of us plunged into the foliage. The brush briefly obscured our view, but that didn't matter since we knew where we were.

The base on the other side wasn't that large, only having enough space for our Hummer and the hangar for Steven's single engine crop duster. The main building only had enough room for the four of us and a small armory, but that was it. I smiled a bit. "All right. You know what to do, right?" I asked him.

Steven nodded. "I sure do, Vanessa," he said, flashing me the thumbs up. I returned it and the two of us split up in our respective directions.

I headed right for the base while Steven ran for the hangar for his plane. I darted across the runway and past the garage for the Hummer before skidding to a stop at the entrance to the base. Swiftly I typed in the four digit code for entry. The computer recognized it and the door slid open, allowing me to slip inside. Once I was in, the door slid shut and I ran for the main computer room, which was really just an office with a bunch of computer gear stuffed into a small space.

I entered the room and sat down, booting up the main computer and getting to work.

The reason why I was even on this team to begin with was because of my computer skills. See, my brother, his name is Jason and he's a UFOlogist, which means he studies UFOs. I personally kind of find it funny, but then again, I can't blame him. The story he told me regarding of how he got so interested revolves around him seeing one of his friends talking to a huge salad shooter on two legs and then a large bug-shaped craft came down and they went on board.

Crazy, huh?

Well, I didn't believe it at first. That is until I saw, or rather overheard, one of my cousins mentioning some place called the Sulp-Daar Pool, and they even referred to each other by some strange names. That's what got me involved to begin with.

It was about three years ago that happened.

Ever since then, I've been keeping tabs on this Sharing group, and I've also managed to tap into their database. What I've found I've kept hidden in my room on several, probably about twenty 1000 GB external hard drives. But more on that later.

Anyway, I dialed up a program I had written three years ago and brought up the database of the Sharing. The names flashing indicated new arrivals or possible recruits, which was a sign that they were expanding. I narrowed my eyes and began typing away. Nothing was going to slip past me that easily!

As I worked, I felt the entire building shake a bit from the sound of Steven's plane as it flew overhead. At least we had a chance to try and spot anything unusual by air, I mused with a grin. Steven, although a bit mysterious, was a good kid to have on the team.

**Jordan's POV**

"So, you're _sure _this is safe to morph a bird?" Tobias asked, a bit nervously as he stood in the middle of the Barn with me and the others. A few minutes had passed, and making good with my promise I helped Cassie out in the barn, taking care of the animals. Cassie was grateful for the help, and I learned quite a bit about the animals at the Clinic. We also spent some time acquiring all of the different animals she had in the Barn, which I was very eager to do. So far I had acquired a lot of animals to Morph. Cassie asked why I was so eager to acquire as many animals as I could, and I just answered 'It's best to have them and not need them, rather than need them and not have them'.

So far, I had acquired the DNA from a mouse, a horse, a raccoon, a bobcat missing an eye, and of course what I considered the 'icing on the cake', a Grey Wolf. I had also taken a quick Goshawk flight back to my place where I finally picked out my 'Morphing Suit', which was really just a tight-fitting pair of shorts and a T-Shirt. And I wasn't the only one, as Tobias had just finished acquiring a red-tailed hawk with a broken wing. "Trust me Tobias, you are going to _love _flying," I said grinning standing next to Cassie. "If you thought being Dude was awesome, a bird-of-prey will be a rollercoaster."

Tobias nodded a bit nervously before he sighed, and he allowed himself to begin his first morph into a hawk. As he began morphing, Cassie glanced at me. "So why do you think the Sharing is involved with the Yeerks?" she asked. A few minutes ago I brought up the topic of the Sharing, and how I thought (or rather knew) they were involved with the Yeerks.

I shrugged. "It's just a hunch I have," I said. "That cop was going on a bit too much 'bout joining the Sharing, saying things like 'we should go' and 'it's lots of fun'... Now that I think about it, Jake's brother Tom suggested I should go as well..."

"So, you think Tom is a Controller now?" Rachel asked, giving me a raised eyebrow as I just raised my hands in surrender.

"Hey, I am just suggesting it," I said. "I am running on the assumption that everyone is a Controller until proven innocent. There's just something in my gut saying there's something about the Sharing that rubs me the wrong way aside from them being a cheap Boy Scouts rip-off. Not to mention I've read a lot of mystery novels and watched a lot of shows, I've learned how to deduce these kinds of situations."

"You're just paranoid," Rachel said shaking her head. However Melissa seemed a bit hesitant to agree, which Cassie caught.

"Something on your mind, Melissa?" she asked.

"No… well.." Melissa said before she sighed. "Well… my parents… both go to Sharing meetings a lot," she said. "More than usual actually… they're always trying to convince me to join, like at least once a week they try to bring me along, but I usually don't go with them."

"Why's that?" I asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"I just… don't want to," Melissa said, shrugging. "It just… didn't seem like something I should go to."

I knew there was probably more to that story involving her… tensions with her Controller-parents, however I just nodded, knowing that I couldn't say anything about that yet. "Its not much," I said. "But it may still be worth checking out… I just want to give the Sharing a looksee and see if they are up to anything Yeerk-related, if not, then their okay in my books." I then looked at Tobias, and smiled as I saw he was in full hawk morph. "Well, Tobias… what do you think?"

"_Just… whoa..._" Tobias said once again in thought-speak. "_You weren't kidding… Hawks can see and hear everything! So… what now?_"

I glanced at Cassie, who nodded before I began to morph back into my Goshawk "_Now,_" I said, once I finished morphing. "_We fly!_"

_A while Later_

"_YEEEAAAHOOOO!_" Tobias shouted as he plunged his red-tailed hawk morph into another nose-dive towards the ground, and I followed closely after as a Goshawk. "_THIS IS AWESOME!_"

"_I know!_" I shouted as we pulled up at the last second just as before,"_This is why I wanted to join the Air Force! Flying is AWESOME!_"

Me and Tobias were spending our time soaring across the skies above the trees, just as I had before. I was smiling mentally as I saw Tobias enjoy flying for the first time of his life. We had been flying for about a half hour now, and we were just beginning to leave the forest, and enter the area where Jake's house was.

"_This will NEVER get old, I swear!_" Tobias shouted, as he did a barrel-roll. "_I've never felt so alive!_" We continued to fly over the suburban buildings below us, until Tobias spotted one he recognized "_Hey, I think that's Jake's house,_" he said

"_Yeah,_" I said, as I flew on Tobias's left flank. "_You wanna see what he's doing?_"

"_Sure,_" he said, as we dove dove down and headed towards the house. However as we got closer to the window of Jake's room, we heard a bunch of loud noises coming from inside, sounding like someone was having a fight. '_Oh boy,_' I thought. '_Marco found out Tom's a Controller._' Thanks to my Goshawk hearing, me and Tobias could hear what was going on inside.

"Jake, quit acting like a stupid jerk!"

"Take that back!"

"Not likely, you think it's just a coincidence he's suddenly all interested in what happened at the construction site?"

"_What the hell is going on in there?_" Tobias asked.

"_Sounds like Jake and Marco are having an argument…_" I said. "_I doubt its about who won their last game… We should see what's going on, not to mention we should tell Jake what Elfangor told us last night about the Yeerks. Red-Tails first!_"

Tobias chucked a bit. "_With pleasure,_" he said. "_Let me show you how its done._" He then moved into a dive, before he folded back his wings in a free-fall letting gravity bring him in for a landing. He opened his wings wide to slow his descent, and started flapping against the window with his left wing to try and get their attention.

'_Wow… he's good._' I thought, blinking at how expertly Tobias pulled that off in his first time in bird Morph, before I followed him, mimicking his movements as well as I could as I did the same as him.

"_Let us in, alright? We can't hover here forever!_" Tobias shouted.

"_Yeah, we ain't choppers! _" I added.

Thankfully, Jake soon opened the window and we flew in, as Tobias landed on the dresser while I landed on the bed. "_What on earth are you two fighting about?_" Tobias demanded. "_Oh, and what do you think of my new Red-Tailed Hawk Morph?_"

"Is that you Tobias? Jordan?" Marco demanded. "I thought we weren't going to do any more of this morphing."

"_I never agreed to that,_" Tobias said.

"_And neither did I,_" I said as well, mentally smirking. "_And I believe we agreed not to agree yet._"

"Well, morph back you two," Jake said. "You know what the Andalite said: never stay in morph for more than two hours."

"_We know, we know,_" I said as I began to morph back. "_We still have loads of time left._" I noticed Tobias hesitated for a moment, before he began to demorph as well. My first assumption was that he had yet to figure out how to morph clothes yet, but then again there was the equally as likely chance he enjoyed being a hawk so much.

I know this may sound crazy, but I always believed that maybe - just maybe - Tobias _wanted _to become a hawk. What I mean is that I think Tobias wanted to become a _nothlit _from the beginning. I mean, think about it: He has no parents which he knows about, neither of his aunt or uncle care about him, and he barely had any friends to speak of.

As a human, he didn't have much going for him. But… I hoped that maybe, just maybe I could change that. I wanted to be Tobias's friend, just like I wanted to be friends with the others as well. But I still thought of all of the good he did as a hawk, which caused me to hesitate on the idea of keeping him human.

However, I pushed those thoughts away as me and Tobias finished morphing, and Jake loaned Tobias some clothes as he had yet to master morphing clothes yet.

"How did you two get those hawk morphs?" Jake demanded.

"Cassie's barn," Tobias answered. "There was an injured hawk there, as well as this cool osprey, but I picked the hawk."

"Similar story," I said. "Cassie's mom was handling a Northern Goshawk that got injured and she let me hold it, so I decided to acquire it while I had the chance. Its a good thing injuries like broken wings aren't written in the DNA acquired in morphing."

"Yeah," Tobias said sighing. "He's so depressed..."

"Who?" Jake asked.

"The hawk," Tobias said. " I mean, I think he knows they're aren't trying to hurt him or anything, but he can't stand being cooped up there while his wing heals." His eyes darkened. "It's terrible when birds have to be locked up in cages, they should be free."

"Yeah, free the birds," Marco commented sarcastically. "I'll get the bumper stickers printed up."

"Marco, you would _not _have that attitude if you morphed a bird," I said smirking, and Tobias smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, being a cat was cool and all, but a hawk! Its just total absolute freedom!" he said.

"No more than two hours in morph, right?" Jake repeated the warning. "You keep track of time, right?"

I chuckled a bit and Tobias smiled. "We do," I said. "With hawk eyes, we can see someone's wrist watch while half a mile in the air."

"It's like being Superman," Tobias added. "Being able to fly, and have super-vision!"

"Now they're Supermen. Great." Marco muttered.

"We were just flying around, really," Tobias said. "But I was keeping an eye out for anything that could be a Yeerk Pool."

"Yeerk Pool?" Jake asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's that? Didn't that Visser Three guy say something about that?"

"Yeah, me and Tobias stayed with Elfangor for a few moments longer when you guys ducked for cover," I said. "He sent us… info you could say, on the Yeerks, things we can use against them. The Yeerks have an Achilles heel. It turns out that Yeerks feed on these rays called Kandrona Rays. On the Yeerk Homeworld Kandrona is their sun, which supplies special rays of energy which feeds the Yeerks in their natural state. However if a Yeerk does not get rejuvenated by Kandrona Rays once every three days, they die. The Kandrona Rays themselves are generated from some artificial generator the Yeerks have somewhere on-planet, but the Yeerks themselves need to bathe in a place called a Yeerk Pool."

Marco raised a hand to silence me and Tobias. "Hang on, let me check the door," he said as he went to the door to Jake's room and peeked out into the hallway. "All clear."

Tobias gave Marco a questioning look, and he answered the unasked question. "Tom," he said. "He's one of them."

"Don't make me hurt you!" Jake warned him angrily. "Tom is not a Controller."

I sighed. "So _that's _what you were arguing about," I said sighing. "You may be right Jake, but we still need to anticipate the possibility that _anyone _other than us could be controllers for now, not until we can devise a plan to track down who and who's not a Controller, that includes your brother."

"Whatever," Marco said. "But what does the Yeerk Pool gotta do with you two flying around and spying like your Superman?"

"Well, it seems dumb now, but I was thinking maybe we could spot the Yeerk Pool from above," Tobias said, as he made a rueful smile. "Saw a lot of swimming pools and some ponds. You get up there and you realize there are ponds and lakes and streams everywhere. But I didn't see anything special."

"And what if you found some Yeerk Pool?" Marco demanded. "Then what?"

"One step at a time," I said before Tobias could speak. "First we find the Yeerk Pool, and then we decide where to go from there. I doubt we can just blow it up since we don't have anything we could use _to _blow it up, but once we identify the Yeerk Pool's location, we can begin mapping out Yeerk Pool entrances. I doubt the Yeerks would have just one way in or out of the pool, if they have more entrances then more Controllers can access them at a variety of locations. We map these locations, we can start identifying who are Controllers, and who's not."

"Didn't we decide _not _to get into this?" Marco said.

"Actually, we decided _not _to decide yet," Jake pointed out.

"Well, me and Jordan have decided," Tobias said nodding firmly. "We're fighting, with or without you."

"Suddenly the wimp is a hero," Marco sneered.

"Maybe I just found something worth fighting for Marco," Tobias said.

"You didn't even fight for yourself!" he exclaimed.

"That was before," Tobias said softly. "Before Elfangor, before he died to save us, and gave us the power to morph. I can't let that go. I can't let him die for nothing. So whatever you guys decide, I am going to fight."

"And we're going to do it, with or without you," I added nodding. "When we find the Yeerk Pool, we're gonna make the Yeerks regret ever coming to earth in the first place, and show them we mean business."

Marco and Jake were both silent for about a minute, before Marco began to smile a bit sneakily. He knew Jake was going on with this thanks to me and Tobias, despite what other people may say about him, Marco can be very smart when he wants to. "Remember that cop today, the one who is so interested in finding whoever was at the construction site? The cop who is probably a Controller?"

We all nodded. "Yeah, what about him?" Jake asked.

"Well, let's see," Marco began as he leaned back in his seat. "He invites you to join the Sharing, and now along comes Tom. And suddenly _he _is very interested in what happened at the construction site, and guess what? Tom also invites you to join the Sharing."

"Asked me too," I said nodding, glancing at Tobias who nodded as well. "I spoke with Rachel and Cassie about it back at the Barn. The cop seemed pretty… _suggestive _that we join the Sharing. I think the Sharing may be a front for Controllers, they probably use it to recruit humans and eventually infect them with a Yeerk."

"We're pretty sure the cop is a controller," Marco said. "And I don't care what you say, Jake, I think Tom is too. So, here is the deal. You want to get into this fight against the Yeerks? Fine,. Let's see how much you want to do it when it turns out it's your own brother you have to destroy."

"We don't have to kill Tom, Marco," I said, rolling my eyes. "Just the Yeerk in his head. We find a way to free him from the Yeerk, Tom will no longer be a problem."

"Easier said than done!" Marco shot back. "This isn't some video game, is it? This is reality. Jake, you have no idea what reality is. Nothing bad has ever happened to you. You have the perfect family, like I _used _to have." His voice cracked a bit at the memory of his mother before he continued. "So maybe we just walk away from this, let someone else fight this fight. Sorry about the Andalite, but I've got enough death in my family."

"There will be a lot more death if we let the Yeerks win," I said, once again surprising the others. "Do you think the Yeerks will always be this 'passive'? Eventually they _will _move in for the kill and turn every human they can into Controllers, and whatever ones resist will be likely killed. Is that the fate you want your friends and family to suffer? Being killed or worse, spending the rest of their lives as slaves to the Yeerks? We may not be the only ones fighting the Yeerks, someone helped us out at the construction site and let us escape… but I doubt they can do this on their own. The Andalite said the Yeerks don't have the ability to morph aside from Visser Three. We have a distinct advantage over the Yeerks, a power they do not have! We may start off small… but over time… we can grow, and become a formidable force against the Yeerks."

"He's right," Jake said nodding. "The Andalite gave us the morphing power for a reason and it wasn't just for the fun of turning into a dog, horse or bird. He hoped we would fight."

"Then maybe Tom is the enemy!" Marco exclaimed. "Maybe it's your own brother you'll end up killing and not just the Yeerk!"

"Yes," Jake said grimly. "Maybe that's what will happen, maybe not. But the first step is to find out more. And I think maybe the way to do that is to check out this Sharing meeting tonight. I'll call the others, anyone wants to come, cool. You want to stay out of it Marco, that's cool too."

Marco hesitated, before he shot me and Tobias an angry look but I shrugged it off. He sighed and spoke. "Okay, it's just a meeting, right?" he asked. "We go and see, I'm in for that."

"Sounds good," I said nodding. "This is just Recon, we're not looking for a fight, we go in, see what's what, and get out."

**117Jorn: And there you have it! Chapter 3 is done and posted! Hope ya'll enjoyed it as much as I did writing it! Next chapter is our 'Recon' at the Sharing Meeting, and a few things happen there that may pirk your interests! So until next time… JA NE!**


	4. Chapter 4: Sharing Plans

**POV Jordan**

* * *

Say what you will about the Sharing, it doesn't change the fact that A. They are probably all controllers, and B. They are just a shameless rip-off of the Boy Scouts.

Jake had called the others, and we made our way to the Sharing Meeting at the beach that night. The bonfire was burning bright on the shores of the dark beach, as people young and old from kids to adults were playing, talking and eating. To the common eye the Sharing might of been a pretty fun gig… that is if I didn't know it was run by Controllers before hand.

The others were spread out across the beach, some of them having fun others just looking around and the whatnot. '_No wonder why the Sharing is so popular,_' I thought. I began to drift away from the majority of the group, as I found myself along the edges of where the beach was. I found myself sitting down on the soft sand and just looking out at the ocean, the moon was over the water illuminating it with it's light, looking like something from a pretty picture.

I glanced out into the ocean, and I wondered how Ax was doing. I could only hope that he was alright, trapped in the Dome under an alien ocean with nothing but fish and sharks to keep him company. He must have been getting lonely down there, that's for sure.

'_Hang in there Ax-man,_' I thought, '_We'll be there soon, just hang in there._'

I saw some movement to the side, and I glanced back behind me. I saw off to the side stood a young woman, and my eyes narrowed. I could see she had short messy brown hair with her bangs kept out of her face with a headband I recognized as being from _Naruto_. She wore a bright white T-shirt with a boat image on the front and blue jean shorts with sneakers on her feet. She looked to be about my age, and she stood at I guessed to be five foot seven. She had brown eyes and they were locked onto the Sharing meeting going on, narrowed slightly as she shifted her feet.

She must not have noticed my gaze, however my eyes still remained narrowed, specifically at the Naruto headband. I admit I am a big Naruto fan, and I know a lot about the series. For example, I know for a fact Naruto wasn't released to english audiences in Manga form until around 1999, and wouldn't become an Anime until 2002 and gain a cult following which would result in the production of Naruto-based products _like _those headbands. So how the hell did this woman have something that shouldn't even exist in 1998 yet?

She suddenly perked up, sensing my gaze and turned to face me. "Do I know you?" she asked.

I was silent for a few moments, keeping my cautious eyes on her before I shook my head. "No… I don't think so," I said. "I'm sorta new here. You with the Sharing?"

The woman's eyes widened. "What? No! I'm just here to check it out," she said, feeling a bit angered by that assumption. I could see her eyes flash as she said that.

I raised my hands in defense. "Whoa! Okay… Sorry I asked," I said. "Just trying to find out who's Sharing here and who's just visiting."

"Same here," she said, sighing. "Sorry… It's just… something just seems a bit off about this group. I don't know why, but I'm staying clear of them." Her eyes flicked over to the group and narrowed dangerously.

'_Oh you have NO idea!_' I thought to myself, before I shrugged. "You could be right, or not." I said. "They just feel like a shameless rip-off of Boy Scouts to me, only coed."

The woman had a small chuckle a that. "True," she said. "By the way, name's Jessica. And you are?" She held out a hand.

I smiled a bit, and grabbed her hand. "Jordan, nice to meet you," I said. "You've lived here for a while, in California?"

She nodded. "Yep. Been here about three months now. I have a place further back from the beach," she said, jerking a thumb back in that direction. "Not too big, but it works."

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty new here myself," I said, looking back at the ocean. "Just moved here a few days ago, got a place up near the mountains. So far it's pretty nice living here."

She smiled and opened her mouth to speak further, but then her pager beeped. She looked at it and frowned before looking back up at me. "Excuse me. Gotta go. Nice meeting ya!" she called as she walked off.

"Nice to meet you too!" I said as well as she walked away off the beach. I kept my eye on her as she walked… Something about her seemed off, and it wasn't just the Naruto Headband.

I glanced back at where Jake and the others were, and I could see Jake giving me a meaningful glance meaning he need me to be with him and the others. I stood up, and I walked towards where Jake and the others had gathered.

* * *

**POV Jessica**

* * *

Once I was out of sight, I dumped the pager into my pocket and pulled out my cell. "Go."

"_Got some news,_" Tony replied. "_Vanessa called in with news about the Sharing's roster. It's gone up, which makes me wonder if they're expanding moreso than we thought._"

I frowned. "That may be, but enough about that. What about the entrances? Find anything?"

"_I sure did,_" he said. "_About three new ones were constructed and are currently beginning operations. Steven's also called in. He said that he's spotted two Controllers heading your way, and from what he's seen, it seems they look to be pissed about something._"

I shot a quick glance up at the sky and briefly I saw the shape of Steven's plane fly overhead. The one good thing about the dark was that it kept his plane from being spotted during these meetings. Not to mention the binoculars he had always seemed to pick out groups of Controllers.

"Thanks, Tony. I'll keep my eyes on them," I said.

He nodded and closed down the connection. I turned and leaned back against a rock as two people walked past. I noticed that they were young, like a couple on a date. But I knew better. Me and my friends, anyway.

I made sure that I started to walk with them, but staying off to the side of the ocean, as if I was gazing out at the sea. But I was really listening in.

"...sure about that?" one of them, the man, asked.

"I'm sure of it, Lithm!" the female snapped in a low voice. "There was no way that that damage was done by a malfunctioning crane!"

The man, named Lithm, or rather the _Yeerk_ named Lithm, frowned using the man's face. "I find it hard to believe that somehow the Pool beneath the human city Las Vegas suffered such heavy damage."

"Well, it did!" the woman snarled. "Visser Three is very angry about the schedule of operations in that city being put behind schedule for a full six human months!"

"Calm down, Rathor," Lithm said gently. "We'll figure this out. And if it makes you feel any better, I'll let the Visser know so he can order an investigation."

I frowned as I stopped and studied the horizon. '_Seems to me that someone else is involved,_" i noted. '_And not just me and my friends or the Animorphs. But someone who seems to know how to really thwart their operations by hitting the pools themselves. But how are they doing it?_'

"Did some other survivors say how the damage was done?" Lithm asked Rathor.

"Lisht said that the attackers used some kind of explosive devices to hit the Pool itself, the devices themselves were placed at key parts of the pool which damaged it to the point the Pool cannot be used for infestation for at least a month, maybe two. They had to deploy a Portable Pool down to the surface just to ensure at least half of our brothers and sisters don't starve. But that is not what got Visser Three furious. Whoever attacked released all of the human hosts who were being kept locked in their cages. Visser Three issued a full retrieval of the hosts… but that's the weird part! After they escaped, all records of the hosts in the databases were gone, as if they never even existed in the first place! "

That threw me for a loop. Quickly I ran back to the beach and slipped behind a rock before pulling out my cell and dialing Tony.

"_Yeah?_" he asked.

"Tony, I managed to overhear something the Controllers said, we've got news!" I said excitedly.

"_What kind of news?_" Tony asked.

"Someone hit a Yeerk Pool in Las Vegas apparently," I said, "Damaged it to the point it would take a month or two for them to repair the damage done. But that's not all. They said that whoever attacked liberated the hosts, the Yeerks are in a frenzy to find who they lost!"

"_Whoa! Hold on! Someone hit the one in Vegas?_" he asked, his voice a mere whisper. "_We were gonna hit that one next!_"

"Well, someone beat us to it and did a very thorough job," I said. "Alert Vanessa and Steven when you can, will ya?"

"_I will,_" Tony said. "_Just be careful there!_"

"Will do. Jessica out." I shut off my phone and pulled out the pager just as I dumped the phone in my pocket. Feeling a bit smug, I turned and headed back for the beach.

* * *

**Jordan's POV**

* * *

"Maybe I was wrong about the Sharing," Marco conceded, smirking at me as I groaned. He had seen me talking with Jessica, and gotten the _wrong _idea. "No way a girl that hot can be an alien. Although if she isn't being brainwashed by an alien slug, how come she's turning her charm on you, Jordan?"

I groaned a bit. I knew Marco was probably just teasing me, but I was not in the mood.

"Give it up Marco," Rachel said. "You're just jealous that you could never get a girl like that. Most girls actually like guys who use their brains for things other than making bad jokes."

Once again, I groaned more loudly. "Just stop it you guys..." I muttered. "We're on a mission here, and I am not in the mood right now. Besides, something is _very _wrong here."

"What are you talking about?" Marco asked, gesturing around them. "Everything is normal here!"

"Too normal," Cassie said. "Nothing is normal. Can't you feel it?" She shivered a bit. "All of the full members… they're just being so perfectly nice, so perfectly helpful. They're so perfectly normal it's abnormal. All of the time their eyes are following you, watching you. Watching you like… like a hungry dog watching a bone."

"Creepy," Rachel agreed. "Like if you took cheerleaders, combined them with gym teachers, and made them all drink ten cups of coffee."

Marco paused for a moment before he spoke again. "You have a point," he admitted. "They're all just too happy, aren't they? People keep telling me how all of their problems disappeared once they become full Sharing members. It's like a cult or something."

"And if there is one thing I learned, is to _not _trust cults." I said. "When things are just too nice and PG to be true, there's probably a darker side being hidden from public eye, like Scientology or something."

"Either way, I'm getting into that secret meeting of Full Members," Jake said. "Let's get away from the fire, over behind that lifeguard stand."'

"How are you going to get into the meeting?" Marco asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jake smiled a bit. "They won't worry about some stray dog walking along the beach, would they?" he asked, and Marco had an 'ah' look on him.

"Good thinking," Cassie said. "I'd do it too… but all I have is my horse morph, and I'd think they'd notice a Horse."

"I got a Seagull Morph, courtesy of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center," I said, sending a smile to Cassie. "I'll go in with Jake, make sure nothing bad happens." I was doing this mostly to make sure Cassie doesn't get involved. In the book she was spotted by the Controller Cop, and was listed to be infected by Yeerks. I hoped that if she knew I was keeping an eye on Jake she wouldn't go.

I hoped.

Jake waved his hand over his head once we were behind the cover of the Lifeguard stand, and Tobias landed over us. After getting the location of the meeting, Jake told Tobias to morph out.

"_No, I'll keep watch from above you for a while longer,_" Tobias said.

"I got that covered Tobias," I said. "I'll morph seagull, and while it may not be as good as a hawk they don't need to ride on thermals, plus it would look more natural than seeing a hawk around here. And if you don't have any morphing clothes, Marco has some clothes for you in a bag. Cassie, Rachel and Melissa will turn away."

Cassie chuckled a bit with a grin. "I'm gonna have to teach you boys how to morph clothes, won't I?" she asked teasingly.

"I already mastered it," I said back smirking. "Though I am gonna find a way to Morph normal clothes eventually… it has to be possible."

Tobias still seemed to hesitate, however Rachel convinced him to morph back thankfully while I myself began morphing seagull. However I was getting a bit more worried about Tobias as well, he was becoming more and more reluctant morphing back from hawk, that theory I had about him _wanting _to become a _nothlit _was getting more and more possible, and I knew I had to do something to make sure he wasn't stuck in that bird morph for the rest of his life until book 13.

Either way, I had to put those thoughts aside as I morphed into a seagull, specifically the California seagull. The morph itself was fairly similar to how I morphed into a Goshawk, the first thing I began to experience was the shrinking, as I suddenly began getting smaller and smaller, once again getting the feeling that I wasn't shrinking, but rather falling at a great distance.

The next thing to happen was the feathers, I felt the familiar itching sensation as I looked down, and saw the pattern of feathers appearing across my skin, looking like an array of feather tattoos across my body, and then suddenly the feathers burst from my skin, becoming three-dimensional.

"Okay, that was freaky..." Marco muttered.

"You have nooooaahhh," I began to say, but then my mouth began to elongate and harden, forming a bird-like beak. My feet were the next to shift, however unlike the talons of a Goshawk, they became more webbed and large, fit for walking on sandy surfaces like the beach.

After a few more changes, I had become full seagull. Thankfully, the instincts of the seagull were easy enough to master… but I suddenly got the massive craving to eat any hotdogs I found on the ground.

"_Alright,_" I said, as I looked at Jake who just finished morphing into Homer. "_Let's go Jake, I've got the skies covered._"

"_Right,_" Jake said, nodding his dog head. "_Let's see what the Sharing's dark little secret is._"

* * *

**Jessica POV**

* * *

The full members began to converge on the spot for the meeting and my eyes narrowed. Luckily there were dunes close by and that was perfect for me. Smirking, I reached into the backpack I wore and pulled out the small camcorder Tony lent me earlier in the day for the mission. I flipped it on before slipping behind the closest dune and aimed it at the meeting. I was ready for it now.

* * *

**Jordan's POV**

* * *

I flew over the meeting site, keeping a keen eye on Jake as he walked through the high dunes all around. I could see twenty five people standing around a table that had been set up, I could easily see Tom and the policeman were already there.

I watched as Jake made his way towards the site, encountering a guard. However luckily the guard simply passed him off as a stray dog as planned, just like he did in the book. When I saw Jake was close enough to hear what was going on, I flew a bit lower so I could hear what they were saying more clearly. It was right as I flew lower that the final person arrived, Hedrick Chapman. My eyes narrowed slightly at seeing him. I didn't particularly hate Chapman, but I _did _hate the Yeerk in his head. He was the reason Melissa was having so much trouble with her family, he and his fellow Yeerk who infested Melissa's mother. I had plans to free both of her parents from their Yeerk captors… eventually.

"Everyone quiet. We have problems," Chapman said. "Item one. We still have not found the brats who were at the construction site. I want them found, Visser Three wants them found. Does anyone have any clues?"

For a few moments no one spoke, and then Tom stepped forward. "It could have been anyone," he said. "But it _might_ be the one who is my host's brother, Jake. I know he goes through the construction site sometimes. That's why I brought him here tonight. So we could either make him ours… or kill him."

I looked at Jake, and I could visibly see his dog form recoil from hearing Tom say that. I felt a bit sorry about him. However I had to pay attention to everything they said at the meeting. After Tom spoke, another Controller who looked like a young woman spoke next.

"Temrash, we cannot infest your host's brother so quickly, you know that," she said. "Nor can we kill him. I doubt your host's parents would take to kindly to that, and if he were killed near one of our Sharing events, it would bring unwanted attention to the Sharing that we don't need."

Temrash sneered at the woman controller. "Visser Three wants those kids caught, Deriss!" he said. "Heads will roll if he does not get results!"

"It's doubtful that whoever were present at the construction site would speak out anyways," Deriss countered, with a confident smirk. "They saw first-hand what we are capable of, and likely saw the power Visser Three possessed… I doubt they would speak out in fear of facing him."

"You may be right, Deriss," Chapman said. "However regardless Visser Three is getting impatient… we have to do something or else it will not bode well with us."

"Just find some random kids and have them infected," Deriss said, waving it off. "Tell the Visser they were the ones at the sight, and he would be none the wiser."

"_Lie _to Visser Three?" Temrash asked incredulously. "Do you have a death wish Deriss?"

"It's been done before, Temrash," another voice, only sounding much more younger than the others said. I looked and I almost laughed as I saw a little girl Controller, no older that six or seven years old standing there, wearing a little kids swimming suit. "Visser Three only cares about results, so we just need to give them to him."

I could laugh at the absurdity of seeing a little girl as a Controller, yet at the same time I felt a bit sorry for the girl the Yeerk was using as a Host. Was she a voluntary controller, or a involuntary one? If she was involuntary I could only imagine what kind of torment a kid like that was going through, being controlled by some sadistic alien slug in your brain.

"Either way, Deriss is correct," Chapman said. "There will be no killing or infestation _at _Sharing meetings, we cannot get the authorities suspicious of our activities, only a small fraction of the local police force is under our control. And we cannot simply kill any random kid, we must be sure that they were there… or at the very least, were close by at the time."

Out of the corner of my eye however, I saw someone else approach the meeting area. Cassie!

"_Cassie, what the hell are you doing?_" I said through thought-speak directed at her, causing Cassie to jump. "_You're going to get spotted, get back!_" Cassie looked like she was about to argue. "_Now, Cassie,_" I said. "_Me and Jake are fine, they can't see us. But there are guards all over the area, if you get spotted they may go after you._"

Cassie looked reluctant, but she conceded as she turned and left the Dunes. '_Well,_' I thought, as I diverted my attention to the meeting again '_That's one problem taken care-_' However, as I was turning my gaze, I saw another person out in the dunes, not Cassie. Someone lying on a Dune, with what looked like a Camcorder. I glided closer, and my eyes widened '_Jessica?_' I thought, as I recognized the girl I met earlier. '_What the heck is she doing?_'

I was confused, why was Jessica here? My first thought was she was a Controller… however why was she so far away and recording the meeting?

My suspicions continued to raise, as I continued to listen in on the Sharing meeting. "_Jake, head back and meet with the others,_" I said to Jake. "_Tell them what you found out so far… I'll link up with you guys later._"

I expected Jake to disagree, however he simply stood up and walked away. I guess he was still so stunned at the revelation that his brother and Vice Principal were in fact a controllers he wasn't thinking straight. I know in the book he took it pretty hard.

I continued to monitor the meeting, which went over some random unimportant Yeerk news, some notes about Yeerk Pool maintenance and such, plans on who to infest next and that. It only lasted for about half an hour till the meeting broke up.

I saw Jessica got out of her hiding spot, putting away her Camcorder and then left the Dunes before she walked away. I still had an hour and half left in Morph, so I decided to follow her as long as I could. Something about her was off… and it wasn't just the Naruto Headband.

* * *

**Jessica POV**

* * *

The meeting had gone well, and I had everything that I needed. I slipped off to a more concealed spot and pulled out the cell phone. "Tony, Jessica here. I got information that could really be of a benefit to us if we're to disrupt more Sharing meetings," I said.

"_Great!_" Tony replied. "_Steven just called in. He took a flight over to Vegas to confirm what those two Controllers mentioned and he spotted what looks like a large tent set up. The Yeerks are really thinking ahead on this one. He said that it's covered as a circus._"

I snarled. "Perfect cover…" I mused.

"_Anything new on your end regarding that missing persons report Vanessa hacked?_" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. I saw their daughter here. A six-year-old with a little kid's swimsuit on. Brown hair and blue eyes," I said, reciting off the information. "That means she's still infested."

"_Damn,_" he muttered. "_I can only imagine the pain and terror she's going through right now…_"

"Enough about that." I glanced back to make sure I wasn't followed. Seeing that I wasn't, I smiled. "Anyway, what else did he see?" I asked.

"_He reported a few people sneaking away from the Pool twenty minutes ago,_" Tony said. "_And Vanessa just called in saying that she's got more data on a new possible Yeerk Pool location. It's a few months old. And hopefully we can hit it unless those unknown attackers hit it first._"

"Great. Tell her good job. And if Steven comes back, tell him good job as well," I said.

"_About that. Steven said he's gonna be circling around near Phoenix. He thinks there might be one under there as well,_" Tony replied. "_He said it might take fifteen minutes before he heads back. Then he needs to refuel the plane and we'll figure out what to do from there._"

I nodded. "Good."

"_Back to the meeting. What kind of information did you glean?_" he asked, returning to the topic at hand.

"I managed to listen in on them through the camcorder and let me tell you, the Visser is after those kids from the construction site. I was surprised to hear that, to be honest," I admitted. "But aside from that, it seems like that Tom's Yeerk wants to infest his brother or kill him. Yet others didn't allow it."

"_Seems like they don't want to give the Sharing a bad name…_" Tony mused on the other end. I heard him sifting through papers over the phone before speaking again. "_And that can only mean they're trying to keep it on the downlow._"

"But it's not working if the Pool in Vegas was nailed…" I reminded him.

"_Yeah. Hold on._" Tony suddenly broke off and I heard him working on something briefly before he came back on. "_Steven just reported in. He's heading back._"

"Anyway, they also did some usual Yeerk stuff," I said. "Just talked about pool maintenance, who to infest, and Yeerk news. Nothing big."

"_All right. We'll meet you back at the base,_" Tony said. "_I'm heading back now._"

I nodded and cut the line. However I suddenly got this strange feeling I was being followed, but when I glanced around, nothing was behind me aside from a seagull perched on some old driftwood. I shrugged it off and headed back towards the concealed spot where the Hummer was. It didn't take me long to get in and drive off.

The trip off the beach wasn't that long, but I still couldn't shake the feeling I was being followed. I looked out the window and I saw no cars were following me, the only thing I could see was another seagull in the air, just flying around like any seagull would.

'_I'm getting paranoid,_' I thought, shaking my head as I continued my way back home.

* * *

**POV Jordan**

* * *

I continued to follow Jessica as she drove her Hummer down the road. I was thankful she wasn't going so fast to the past I couldn't keep up with her, but it was still had to keep chace as a seagull. Normally I would have morphed into the Goshawk, but unfortunately due to the lack of any thermals a Goshawk morph would only slow me down. '_I knew I should have acquired that Horned Owl at the barn,_' I thought, recalling how I saw a Horned Owl at Cassie's barn but I didn't acquire it yet. '_They move way faster in the night than a Seagull..._'

Either way, I kept my eye on the Hummer as it drove, while also keeping a mental watch over my morphing time. I still had plenty of time left before I had to demorph. I don't know why, but ever since I arrived at this universe I've been able to keep track of time like never before, it was weird since I never was good to begin with, but now it was like I had a mental clock in my head. I simply passed it off as another 'advantage' Ellimist had given me to ensure my success. It was a small thing, but it helped in the long run I guess.

I continued to follow her as she drove her Hummer along the beach, until she seemed to reach some woods near the beach. I flew a bit lower to fly under the trees as I followed her, it was even easier to track her as her headlights lit the way. I followed her until she arrived at a small clearing, and I could see what I supposed was her house. It looked like a small two story suburban house, like one you could find anywhere except the driveway was a bit longer and there was a small garage that was easily meant for the Hummer. However the odd thing I discovered was that it also looked like there was a small dirt runway along the side of the house and a small steel hangar.

Jessica drove her truck towards the garage which opened as she approached, once it was open she drove inside and the garage door closed behind her.

When the door was closed, I circled around the house a few times, looking for an opening I could use to get inside. However as I looked, I heard the sound of engines, and I looked up at the sky and saw an aircraft was approaching the runway, specifically it was a AT-802 crop duster, sleeker in design, blue on top, white underside with green stripes on edges of the wings.

The aircraft was moving down towards the runway, and I saw this as a possible chance to get inside the house, since whoever was piloting the plane must head inside. I flew my seagull morph down towards the forest, landing behind a tree before I began to demorph. I did it as quickly as I could as I knew I didn't have much time to spare.

The moment I became fully human once again, I glanced at the air strip once more. The plane just landed, and the pilot was just beginning to turn it around to park it in the hangar. I didn't have much time. I took a deep breath, and I began to morph mouse. I had already given the morph a test drive earlier today with Cassie helping out. Believe me it's hard to keep their minds under control, but I believed I could control it now.

I hope…

* * *

**Steven POV**

* * *

Finally I had returned. The whole flight back my mind had been reeling with what I had just learned. But the only problem now was what to do. I emerged from the hangar, the wind rustling my hair and I smirked a bit before turning and heading for the house. The door was open by the time I came around to the front. Jessica stood there with Tony and Vanessa, both of whom had returned prior to my arrival.

"About time you showed up!" she said, folding her arms. "You do realize that it was risky to do what you did, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but it was worth it. I mean, come on! A portable Yeerk pool right out in public? Do you even know how low I flew to get that visual?" I asked. I held a hand up in the air. "I flew at least five hundred feet above the ground, and that was incredibly risky, even for me! The only reason I didn't get spotted was because the cops down there were keeping tabs on the crowds of that "circus"." I emphasized that word with my fingers.

"I know. Tony told me back at the meeting," Jessica said.

The four of us headed inside. I shot a glance down at the floor, noting the mouse as it scurried in. Oh well. No biggie.

I shrugged and grabbed the door, closing it behind me.

Once we were all inside, we headed through the base's hallways to the meeting room. It really wasn't that big, to be honest. Any more room would've been appreciated. (I'm a bit claustrophobic at times.) Anyway, we arrived in the meeting room in a few minutes and we sat down.

"All right. Now we can begin," Jessica said. "Anything new to report, guys?"

"Well, aside from the fact that the Yeerks have been amping up recruitment to the Sharing, nothing big on my end," Vanessa said as she pulled out her laptop. "The only real big thing that I discovered was that after the pool attack in Vegas, the databases were wiped clean of all the hosts that were registered members of the Sharing. Nothing really remained, not even their addresses or photos." She showed us the database and I whistled.

Tony frowned before he folded his arms. "So? That could've been a fluke."

"No. Someone else coordinated and launched that attack," Jessica said. "I heard it from two Controllers myself. But that's beside the point. The point is, our two groups aren't alone in this anymore. We have help."

"And if that's the case, then we may need to contact them somehow," I mused.

"Not now. Not until we have more data on them, or the attacks," Jessica said. Then she turned to Tony. "What about the Yeerk pool entrances? You said you found three new ones under construction.

"Yeah, I have two under construction, and one that's just been finished," Tony said. "They recently finished the one built at the school that the Animorphs attend, and they are nearing completion with the one that will be built at the McDonalds and at an abandoned warehouse."

Jessica pursed her lips. "I see…" she mused. "That means we only have a certain amount of time before they get all of them open and running." She stood and pressed her hands down on the table. "We need to figure out how to hit them and hard. The first one is out of the question. It's the other two we need to damage enough to warrant their discontinuation of the construction."

"But how are we gonna do that?" Vanessa asked. "We don't have enough explosives for that."

"I know," Jessica said. "Because we need to damage them near the Pool itself. Seal them off and leave them useless."

"That's more of a plan we can handle," I said.

"Yeah. But that brings us to the next question," Tony said. "How can we without giving ourselves away?"

Jessica was silent on that one.

Personally, I felt he had a point. There were only four of us, and who knew how many other groups fighting? We needed some backup. But what it came down was _how _to get that backup. We knew we could just approach the Animorphs and ask them to help us. But they barely knew us, and could always guess we were Controllers.

Funny how things turn out though… as the answer to our problem was practically right under our noses… literally.

* * *

**Jordan's POV**

* * *

Let me tell you something. Mice are _very _hard to control sometimes. They're always demanding to run away from anything bigger than them, and they are possibly the most fearful creatures on the planet. The Animorphs weren't kidding when they said their instincts can run wild sometimes.

But, I managed to reign in control over the mouse, and I snuck through the house, following the others from behind until they reached meeting room, where I then listened in to everything they said.

Needless to say… I was surprised beyond anything.

These people were fighting the Yeerks before the Animorphs? And there may be others like them out there hitting places like Las Vegas? However, the true thing that surprised me was the fact that they _knew _about the Animorphs _before_ Marco even comes up with the name! Who the heck were these guys?

Suddenly, the mouse's instincts went crazy, as I saw a shadow over me. '_Shit, bail!_' I thought, and the mouse mind agreed with me as I darted away from the shadow as fast as my mouse feet could carry me.

* * *

**Jessica's POV**

* * *

"Ah shit!" Tony cursed, causing me and the others to look at him as he crouched down, only to stand back up. "Freaking mouse..." I looked and I saw a small white mouse scurry away from Tony, running pretty quick for a mouse as Tony tried to catch the little guy, but was failing miserably.

"Stay… still!" Tony shouted, as he chased the mouse, and in all honestly it was starting to look like a scene out of Tom and Jerry, as Tony chased the Mouse, but it ran under a desk that Tony didn't see, causing him to slam head-first into it. "GAH! SHIT! FUCK!" he cursed loudly as he fell on his butt his hands on his head. I had to stop myself from laughing, seeing Tony outsmarted by a mouse, but Vanessa and Steven were not having so much luck as they started laughing.

"All right. Enough," I said.

Vanessa nodded, wheezing as she knelt and scooted under the desk, moving slowly so as to not spook it. She reacted swiftly, grabbing it by the tail and lifting it up as it began to squirm.

"I'll take it outside," she said.

I nodded, a grin crossing my face. "Good idea. Wouldn't want any more Tom and Jerry reenactments now, do we?" I joked.

"Very funny!" Tony grumbled as he removed his hands to check for a bruise.

Vanessa turned and headed for the door, still carrying the mouse, unaware that it was the solution to our backup problem, until…

"_Hey! Let me go, or I'll get my cousin Jerry to kick your ass!_"

Vanessa squeaked and nearly dropped the creature, and Tony wound up rubbing his head. "Okay. Maybe I hit my head a bit too hard! Did I hear that for real?"

I nodded. "We all did, Tony," I said in shock.

Vanessa looked down at the mouse and quietly set it down, stepping back. "Uh… Mr. Mouse? How...How...What's going on?" she asked.

The mouse was silent for a moment, as it stood up on its hind legs. "_Mr. Mouse? Please, that was my uncle,_" the voice said again. "_I'm… Muscles! Muscles Mouse, Jerry's cousin!_"

Steven snorted. "Yeah, right."

"_*Sigh* Well, so much for that act,_" the voice said. "_I really wanted to milk out the Tom and Jerry jokes a bit longer… hang on..,_"

A few moments passed, and suddenly, to our shock… 'Muscles' was getting bigger. He was growing and growing, getting closer to the size of a human! His arms and legs began to streach out, and morphed from paws to human hands and feet. Then his fur began to meld back into his skin, and was replaced by much more pinkish skin and red and black tight clothes. Then the mouse's head began to shift, shortening to a more human length, and his mouse-like ears became more human ones.

And then, before I knew it, in the place of a mouse… was a human boy. And not just anyone… but the same kid I met at the beach. My eyes were wide in surprise as I looked at him. "J-Jordan?" I asked, shocked.

Jordan grinned a bit sheepishly, as the four of us looked at him with wide eyes. "Hey… Jessica..." he said with a dry chuckle. "Ehh… fancy meeting you here."

I blinked in confusion. "What…? Jordan? What's going on here?" I demanded.

Jordan sighed. "Well… I sorta saw you spying on that Controller Meeting," he admitted. "I was keeping a birds-eye view of the whole thing… literally."

"Hold on! You...Just how did you become a mouse?" I asked harshly, my eyes hardening. "And just what did you mean by a literal bird's eye view of things?"

Jordan looked at me with narrowed eyes. "Isn't it obvious?" he asked. "I can morph, I am an Animorph… now, let me ask you this… how do _you _know the name Animorph before Marco even comes up with it?"

I tensed, but remained calm. Steven, on the other hand, didn't. He lunged forward and grabbed Jordan by the shirt in his hands. "What makes you think we can even trust you?!" he snarled. "I mean, for all we know, you could be a Controller looking to infest us!"

Tony held out a hand. "Whoa, Steven. Calm down. The last thing we need is a potential ally turning against us." He turned to face Jordan as Steven let him down. "The long story short is this. You're not the only one the Ellimist called upon. There's our group, and possibly others out there as well. It was all due to a cosmic loophole in the rules of the game he's playing with Crayak. So, that's why we're here," he explained.

"We're all from 2013, same as you," Vanessa explained. "And our mission is the same as yours: to give the Animorphs a better future."

Jordan looked surprised, as he looked at me, as I nodded. "It's true," I said. "We're all from 2013, like you I suppose."

Jordan nodded, a bit hesitantly. "Yeah… let me guess, you were the ones who fired the shots at the Construction Site?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yep. That was Vanessa with the rocket. Me, I did the Hork-Bajir." I grimaced. "Although I wasn't expecting it to be so messy…" I regained myself. "But yeah. That was us."

However, Jordan seemed to smile a bit "Either way, thanks for the hand." He said, "The rest of the Animorphs had an easier time escaping with that distraction. Its nice to know I'm not the only person who's helping change things for the better."

I grinned. "Yeah. Anyway, this is my team. The boy in the back is Tony, the girl is Vanessa, and the kid who grabbed you earlier was Steven."

"Nice to meet you," Tony said as he shook Jordan's hand.

Vanessa nodded and smiled. "Glad to know we have some additional help."

Steven merely frowned, but then grinned. "Yeah. Sorry. I just wasn't expecting to see someone morph like that," he said.

"Not a problem," Jordan said. "Trust me, I know morphing can look pretty weird. You should try it sometime."

"Can't," Tony said sighing. "We can't get anywhere near the Construction Site to look for the morphing cub. Controllers are everywhere looking for it or anything else that survived their bombardment."

However, Jordan smirked a bit causing us to look at him oddly. "They won't find it, and neither will David when book 20 comes around," he said. "Because _I _have it."

We all stared in shock. "What? You do?" Vanessa blurted. "That's great!" A smile crossed her face as she said that.

"Hold on, Vanessa. We made a promise. No morphing powers for us. We use only human technology and tactics. If need be, we will use Yeerk tech against them, but no morphing. That's what the Ellimist said," I reminded her.

"Oh…" She looked a bit upset at that.

Jordan however raised an eyebrow. "Why the hell would the Ellimist prevent you from getting Morphing Powers?" he asked. "Doesn't make much sense..."

I shrugged. "He said, and I quote 'We are not allowed to possess the Morphing Cube'," I said.

Jordan thought about that for a moment, before he smirked. "He said 'possess' the Morphing Cube," he said. "He didn't say anything about the Morphing Power itself, right? You don't have the Cube, _I _do. And he didn't say a thing about me not being allowed to have it."

I nodded. "True, but he said that to us, and I also think he meant we couldn't get the power, either. This way we can fight undetected. They'll suspect if the Animorphs grow too large, and we can't afford that. Besides, we have our own means of fighting back."

Jordan frowned a bit. "If there is one thing I learned about the Ellimist, it's that he _always _intentionally leaves room for loopholes like this," he said, "And I _intend _on growing the size of the Animorphs over time, I have very, _very _big plans for the future of the Animorphs, and humanity as well."

I pursed my lips. "Look. That's a great idea, and I do know that it may work. But the point here is that me and my team aren't allowed to have the power to morph. And as I said before, we have our own means of fighting back." I jerked a thumb at Steven.

"Steven's plane can be equipped with weapons, specifically bombs. Our Hummer has a gun mount. We have a small arsenal of firearms that we snagged from Controllers over the last three months, both human and alien tech alike. Not to mention we have our own infestation prevention measures," I explained. "What I mean by that is that each of us has something that can prevent us from being infested with one of those damn slugs. Tony found a frequency that can cause the Yeerk a massive headache and forces them to leave the host. Steven can't be infested period. Don't know why. Me, my will is so strong I forced a Yeerk from my brain once. And Vanessa...well, she's got a bit of an allergic reaction to the sludge in the pool, and Yeerk fluids in general."

Jordan looked at us all, first he sighed a bit. "Gonna have to ask Ellimist to clear this up..." he muttered, "Either way, you do have a good start here… but you need to start thinking bigger… _way _bigger."

I nodded. "I agree on that. We _do_ need to think bigger. That's why we're asking for some backup. We're thinking of hitting the Yeerk pool entrances Tony discovered that are under construction and we need some help. We have a plan as to how, but we need someone to provide a distraction while we do the demolition."

"It's best to not destroy too many entrances," Jordan pointed out. "The Animorphs need some of these entrances later on, like the one located at McDonalds, and other vital ones in order to conduct raids on the Yeerk Pool. Not to mention many Yeerk Pool entrances are in very public places like McDonalds, which makes hitting them… problematic, unless we wanted to look like terrorists in the eyes of the public. They don't know about the Yeerks, we destroy a place like that and they'll just think its a random act of terror or something like that."

"I was thinking about the one in the old warehouse," I replied. "That's one no one would expect."

"That can work." Jordan said nodding, with a small smirk. "It'll be nice to do some damage to the Yeerks while we're operating… in fact… I may have a plan. How far is this warehouse from the school?"

Tony stood up and walked over to a file cabinet standing in the corner and opened the top drawer, pulling out a sheet of paper folded up. He came back and laid it out on the table, revealing the map. "Here," he said, jabbing at the spot. "About one and a half klicks off beyond the railroad tracks. But recent scouting done by me and Vanessa shows that it's got some guards, but cleverly hidden as homeless folks."

"Hmm..." Jordan said, looking at the map. "It's a long walk…but it _could _work..." He looked up. "We might be able to hit two birds with one stone, the Animorphs will strike the Yeerk Pool via the school entrance in a few days as we all know. However this time Cassie wasn't caught by the cops so she won't be a problem. Anyways, while me and the Animorphs hit the school entrance, you guys could hit the warehouse entrance, do it quick and quietly, and then sneak in. When the Animorphs begin raiding the Pool itself and freeing the Controllers, you guys charge in and cause even more chaos among the Yeerks, giving us more time to free prisoners before Visser Three shows up."

I nodded. "Sounds like a plan. And we can blow the warehouse entrance as well. We'll follow you guys out as fast as we can or leave via another entrance to really mess things up," I said.

"Good idea," Tony added. "So, any other ideas we could use? We need to know when to blow the warehouse entrance to leave it unable to be used by Controllers coming through there."

"Just need to buy enough TNT or dynamite," Jordan suggested. "Or any explosives that could bring down a building would do."

"May be a problem," Vanessa said. "We're a bit tight on cash… Ellimist didn't exactly give us big bank accounts. You wouldn't believe what we had to do for money the first month here..."

However, Jordan smirked as he chuckled a bit. "Well… not for me," he said causing me and the others to blink. "He left me with over 1 trillion dollars in several bank accounts." He then smirked more, as he saw our reactions, each of them being priceless.

I stared. "Holy...crap…!" I breathed. "That's...as much as the Allies made in WWII altogether!"

"Finally! I won't have to scavange up enough fuel for the Hummer!" Tony exclaimed.

"And I can buy new parts for the plane!" Steven remarked.

"Plus we can finally upgrade the hard drives!" Vanessa said.

I nodded. "Yeah. At least now we won't have to do menial jobs like working as cleaners for the school," I said.

Vanessa nodded. "I don't know how we managed to get through that first month…" she muttered.

I turned to Jordan. "Jordan, that's great news. Our cash situation is very tight, and we could use all the help we can get. It was by luck that Tony managed to convince the Ellimist to give us even some cash at all. Let alone this place and that hangar for Steven's plane," I said. I then perked up. "Speaking of which, have any suggestions for Steven to do? His plane is about the only means for a major diversion we have."

Jordan smirked. "Jessica… I have 1 trillion dollars," He said again. "If I wanted to, I could buy Steven an A-10 Thunderbolt II as a replacement. You can tell how big I am thinking ahead here, I am not having a small resistance here… I plan… on building an entire military force, a full-fledged army of humans, and eventually Free Hork Bajir and anyone else on Earth to fight the Yeerks on their own terms. And not just people who can morph, but people like you who have guns, tanks, warships, aircraft, and more. I don't think small."

Steven's eyes widened. "A whole army? My God…"

I suddenly perked up, an idea coming to mind. "Hey, Jordan. I just had an idea. There's one ship in particular I want to get my hands on. And this one was the fastest of its time." I walked over to the file cabinet and pulled out a folder. "This ship used to be in service, but was put out of service when the jet age came into existence." I slapped the folder down and it fell open, revealing a sleek ship with two red, white, and blue funnels. "The S.S. _United States_, flagship of America. If any ship can outrun other human ships, it's her."

The specs were displayed on another side of the folder. "But due to our budget, we can't exactly purchase her. So, can you help with that?"

Jordan looked at the picture, and hummed a bit. "I've heard of this ship..." he said, "She was a passenger liner, one of the fastest capable of 35.59 knots…" He then looked up. "But it's a passenger liner, not a warship. It would get torn to shreds."

"Hello! There's a reason I picked her!" I said. "She could be converted to a troop ship! In two to three days!" I slammed a hand down on the folder. "Which means armaments, weapons, and troops on board! We can make it work! Me and my team. We'll man her and get her armed for war. You just have to get us the ship."

Jordan sighed. "Well… I'll see what I can do," he said. "Before I can even begin building up an army, I need to build up a name for myself in this time. It'll take time, but it should be easy enough to buy a ship that's been out of service for this long."

I smiled. "YES!" I cried. "Finally! Then you guys will have some backup when Book 46 happens!"

"So, how do you plan on building a name for yourself?" Tony asked. "It's not going to be easy.

"Won't be easy," Jordan admitted, "But the best way to make a name for myself… is to take a page out of the Yeerk's book." At our combined confusion, he elaborated. "They have the Sharing as a front to fund their Earth-base operations and to get Controllers… my plan is to do something similar, I plan on making a full-fledged multinational corporation, with the purpose to fund our operations on earth, to expand human technology even faster, and slowly make the world aware of the Yeerk threat. The company will also provide us with a steady income of money for us, since eventually I am going to run out of money in my own account, since unlike the States, we don't have Taxpayer Dollars to fund us… yet."

"Wow… So that means we can make our own weapons for the war!" Tony remarked.

"Exactly," Jordan said nodding. "We all know the Andalites won't send any worth-while help until the _end _of the books. It's up to us humans to win our own fight, here on earth. I want to teach the Yeerks a lesson they won't ever forget: Don't. Fuck. With. Earth. "

Steven cracked a grin. "Nice! And say that we do gain enough funds for this. What about the eventual army? You need a name for it," he said.

Jordan smirked. "Well, since Animorph Army doesn't seem very catchy..." he said. "I was thinking… The Black Swords of Freedom."

Tony's eyes widened and he whistled. "Nice! They won't expect that!" he grinned.

I nodded. "Yeah. And I may have a motto for us." I smiled. "'For the Future.' After all, we're fighting for a better future, right?"

Jordan, once again, smirked and nodded. "Oh, I think we're going to get along _fine,"_ he said.

"Now, one other question. Won't the other Animorphs get suspicious if you don't head back to them?" I asked.

"I already told them I'd meet back up with them tomorrow or Monday," Jordan said. "Monday's when Jake will discover the Yeerk Pool entrance under the school."

"And when they do… They'll begin their plan to attack it, right?" Steven asked.

"Yeah," Jordan said with a nod. "In order to rescue Tom… I am unsure if the attempt will succeed or fail, it depends on what _we _do. But no matter what, whether it's this week, or next month, or next year, I intend to bust Tom out of that damn Yeerk Pool." He then shrugged. "But, until then, I've got other things I need to do, the first is to… start planting the seeds for our army."

"How?" I asked, curious.

"I did a bit of scouting around across the Internet," Jordan said. "By the way, it is _really _hard to get over how it's 1998, with no Youtube or anything like that… just glad Ellimist gave me all of my games, consoles and computers from home… Anyways, we can use the fact it's 1998 to our advantage, since we have technology and concepts from over a decade _ahead _of this time, tech that groups like Microsoft and Apple haven't even _tried _to make yet." He then grinned. "I am going to act before Apple does…beat them to the punch."

I was stunned. But Vanessa was grinning like an idiot. "Nice!" she cried. "Now we can really get things cruising!"

Tony nodded. "Yes, but first we need to think about what to do after the whole Yeerk Pool rescue mission here. This can only happen after we do that mission. Now we need to focus on what kind of gear we need for the mission, and how much. The first thing that we will be needing is dynamite. Maybe some C4. And finally we'll need some extra ammo. We're down to the last rocket in the launcher, not to mention the gun on the Hummer's clean out," he said as he sat back down in his seat and leaned back.

"Jordan, did you hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah, just tell me what you need," Jordan said nodding."I'll get whatever you need. Just show me where I can buy this stuff."

"Ammo and dynamite," Tony said. He leaned forward and placed his hands on the table. "That's what we need. Some rockets and more bullets." He tapped the map and circled the area with his finger. "Here. That's where it is."

Jordan looked at the location. "Alright, I can drive there," he said nodding. "Though I could use help grabbing the stuff. my truck can only hold so much guns and ammo… plus, I'll probably buy some stuff for myself as well, start up my own armory."

I nodded. "I'll send Tony in the Hummer. It's got enough room."

Tony smiled. "I'm ready," he said, holding up the keys.

"Sweet," Jordan said nodding, "We'll hop in your hummer, drive to where I parked my Truck near the beach, and head out and buy whatever bits of guns, ammo and explosives we can, and we'll bring it all back here."

"Right!" he said.

The two headed off, leaving me and the other two alone. Now, I thought as I glanced back at the images of the ship lying on the table. Back to the matter at hand.

* * *

**Jordan POV**

* * *

It's been a day since I met up with Jessica and her team. I spoke with Jake and the others regarding the Sharing meeting earlier today. Jake said he was going to investigate Chapman, follow him and see if they could find a Yeerk pool that way. He said he and Cassie had developed an idea last night for him to morph into a lizard to get inside the school to follow him, and he would give it a shot Monday.

Speaking of Chapman, Melissa found out about it once Jake told the others, or at least that is what I presumed. While I was at the mall today just looking for some stuff to buy for my house, I ran into her.

* * *

**Flashback - Earlier today**

* * *

I was at the Mall Food court, sitting by myself, munching on some cheese pizza I got. '_My god how I love Pizza..._' I thought smiling a bit. '_You always take my troubles away..._'

"Jordan?" a voice said, and I looked to the source, and I was surprised to see Melissa walking towards me.

I smiled. "Hey Melissa," I said nodding. "Whatcha doing here?"

Melissa was quiet for a moment before she sighed. "I just… needed to get away from my house… again," she muttered. "I… don't like being there anymore..."

I blinked a bit in surprise, however I gestured her to sit down in the seat across from me, which she accepted as she sat down. "Something happened?" I asked.

Melissa seemed to hesitate a bit, before she glanced around. There wasn't anyone around where we were sitting that were within earshot. She let out a sigh before she spoke. "I… I… got in a… a fight with my… parents today..." she whispered.

My eyes widened a bit. "What happened?" I asked, a bit worried.

"It… it was about the Sharing..." she began. "After…after we left last night… from the meeting… today my parents… they wanted me to officially join the Sharing..." She shook her head. "I told them I didn't want to join… but they kept on pushing and pushing, saying it would let me get out and find more friends… but I kept saying no…"

I remained quiet as I nodded, not saying a word until her story was finished. "They started shouting… they… they never shouted at me like that before," she said. "Asking why I didn't want to join, and I just told them I… I just didn't want to, I didn't like the Sharing. They said they were in the Sharing, that some of my friends were already in the Sharing, so I shouldn't I? But I… I just said no, again. Then I said..." She stopped for a moment, before she sighed. "I… shouted… 'what do you care, you and mom don't love me anymore anyways'... and I just… ran off… and well… here I am."

I let out a small sigh. "Melissa… did Jake tell you what we found out last night?" I asked, and she lowered her head and nodded.

"Yeah… that my dad is one of _them,_" she whispered. She was silent for a moment longe. "You… you know that song… 'a house is not a home'? by Dionne Warwick? That's… that's what I've been feeling like lately… only it's been with my parents, not with some boyfriend or something like that. They've both always been busy but they've made a point to make time for me… but, even before the Construction Site… that wasn't the case. They've acted the same they always do… but that's it… an act. It was like all of their 'I love yous' and 'Be carefuls' lost all of their meaning. It… it happened so gradually, I didn't notice it started until one day… I woke up, and realized my parent's didn't love me anymore. I tried to deny it at first, but though my parents said they did, they proved otherwise with every word an action… "

My eyes widened quite a bit at what Melissa was saying. "Melissa… of course your parents still love you!" I said. "It's those… _things _in their heads!"

"Then _why _did they become controllers to begin with?" Melissa began, looking up at me as I saw tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "_Why _did they just leave me like… like this! It's not just my dad, but mom has to be one too! Why would they let this stuff happen to them? To me?"

"They're doing it _for _you!" I blurted out suddenly, causing Melissa to blink in surprise, as she jumped a bit. I was fortunate no one else seemed to notice. I sighed. "Melissa… if your mom and dad are both Controllers… why haven't you asked yourself: 'Why am I free? Why am I not a controller?'" I looked up at her. "What if…. your parents agreed to become Controllers, so _you _wouldn't become one? That they wanted to keep you _free,_ and _away _from all of this torment of being a slave to those slugs?"

Melissa was still silent, so I continued. "Maybe… your parents love you more than you think," I said. "Maybe they love you so much, they were willing to sacrifice _their own freedom,_ to make sure you were still free, that you could grow up and be yourself, and not have your life ruled by some slug in your head?"

She was silent for about a minute, the only sounds coming from all of the people in the food court. Finally, she spoke again. "You… you think… they would do that?" she asked.

I smiled a bit. "Your slug-free, aren't you?" I asked. "I promise you Melissa, we _will _free your parents, and you can hear it from themselves how and why they got Yeerked. If we're lucky, we can do it once we find an entrance to the pool."

Finally, after another moment of silence, Melissa smiled a bit. "Thanks… Jordan." she said. "It… it was nice to talk to you… about this. I would have spoken with Rachel, but..."

"Don't mention it," I said. "Well, while we're here… can I get you something to eat? I've still got some cash to burn."

* * *

**Present**

* * *

Me and Melissa just ate lunch together, and made small talk for the time until we both had to leave. It was nice to talk with Melissa, and I could only hope I got some of that emotional baggage off of her. Anyways, back to where we were, I was just driving my truck up the dirt road to my house, following close behind me was Jessica and her team in their Humvee. They wanted to see what my place was like, probably to draw a comparison with theirs to decide whether or not to stick with their place, or to move all of their stuff to my house. After a minute more of driving, we finally pulled up in front of my house.

The Hummer pulled up alongside the truck and Jessica leapt out in a minute with the others behind her.

Steven let out a low whistle at the sight of my house. "Nice," he said. "A lot roomier than ours, that's for sure."

"Yeah, I guess so," I said nodding as we approached the front door. "It's pretty big, I've got enough room here to comfortably house about twenty people here, as you can tell it gets pretty damn lonely sometimes. And it is hard for people to find this place, thanks to the Perception Filter the Ellimist set up."

"Not enough room if we're gonna be building an army," Tony noted. "We need to go bigger as time goes on. But a good start."

Jessica nodded. "I agree. It is a good start. But right now, we have more things to worry about. Such as how the Animorphs are gonna take the news of other people fighting back."

"They'll likely be glad they're not the _only ones _fighting," I said as we entered the house. "But we need to make sure they understand that we still need their help. Aside from me, they are the only ones who are capable of morphing."

Jessica nodded. "I know that." She glanced around at the blank space and let out a whistle. "Nice. Even if it is a bit on the plain side."

Vanessa took a quick peek into one of the rooms and glanced back. "He's not kidding. I see a kitchen in here."

"I'm guessing about three kitchens in here," Steven noted.

"Four actually," I said. "Twenty bedrooms & bathrooms, four kitchens, two Dining Rooms, a training room, an entertainment room, a computer room, and the underground Food stores."

Jessica let out a low whistle. "Jeez…" she said. "But aside from that, how are we gonna tell the Animorphs about us?"

"In due time," I said, as we walked upstairs. "I don't want to tell them too soon, but I believe they will likely find out about you during our raid on the Pool, so I am planning on, after the raid, bringing us all here and then after introducing you..." I let out a sigh. "I… will tell them the truth… about the books, the T.V show and everything. The Ellimist said I can't tell them their whole futures, but I can tell them some things, and other things I can indirectly 'hint' to them. I can't keep this info from them for too long, since I do not want to lose their trust."

"Sounds good. So, shall we begin planning for the raid?" she asked.

I nodded as we reached the top stairs, and entered a room which was lined with many computers, most of which were obviously _not _from 1998, and in the middle of the room was a large table which showed a full map of California. "Right," I said. "So… first, tell me everything you know."

* * *

**117Jorn: And there you have it! Chapter is DONE and the identity of the unknown team is revealed. **

**Titanic X: Now, both begin their planning of a raid on the Yeerk Pool, but sooner or later they will meet with some new allies, but who they are is a mystery. And keep your eyes peeled, because the next chapters are about to get hot!**

**117Jorn: And here begins… the rise of the Black Swords of Freedom! Also a special thanks to Sarah1281 for letting me use some of her 'Just missed the call' fic for this chapter. So until next time…**

**Both: Ja NE!**


	5. Chapter 5: To Hell and Back Again

**POV Jordan**

* * *

"Screams," Jake said. "Human screams. They sounded far off, but that's what they were."

It was Monday afternoon, right after Jake and the Animorphs got out of school. We were now gathered at the Mall's food court, sharing a bowl of nachos. Jake had successfully infiltrated the school and confirmed the entrance of the Yeerk Pool was there.

"You were a lizard at the time," Marco said. "Who knows what you heard?"

"I know," Jake said nodding firmly.

"Makes sense when you think about it," I said suddenly, deciding to put my own input in the situation. "I mean… the location is perfect for three reasons. The pool being underground makes it extremely hard to find for anyone - would you look for an alien invasion force _underground?_ Not to mention with it being in the school, people like Chapman, Tom and other people who either go to school there or or work there would have, they can access it without raising any suspicion."

"That's two reasons, what's the third?" Marco asked, and I smirked.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked. "It's school, where else would you look for a source of pure evil?"

That gave everyone a good laugh to break up some of the tension, I could of sworn I heard Marco mutter 'I'm starting to like this guy' but that might of just been my imagination. "Either way, we need to do something, jokes aside," Rachel said.

"Yeah, let's rush down there," Marco said. "Then it can be _us _screaming."

"We can't exactly ignore this, Marco,." I said as I grabbed another nacho chip, and ate it. (**I feel like i made a reference from somewhere here… *shrugs***) "What's to stop _them _from taking a random student or teacher and slugging 'em? Hell, if we don't do something about that entrance, who's to say they won't try to nab one of us by chance? If one of us gets slugged, we're all royally screwed."

"He's right," Tobias said. "Elfangor said Yeerks can read memories of their host. One of us gets caught, they'll be able to identify _everyone _who was at the site."

"We could always try to go to a different school..." Marco said, almost jokingly but Rachel didn't seem to take it the same way as she shot a glare at him.

"That's it then?" she asked. "Just whatever is best for Marco?"

"I don't think Marco is being selfish," Cassie said, trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. "Just the opposite. He's thinking about his father, About what would happen to his dad if Marco..."

"He's not the only one with people to worry about," Rachel said, "I have a family, we all do."

"Not me," Tobias said softly, smiling his sad crooked smile. "It's true. No one gives a rat's ass about me."

"That's bullshit and you know it, Tobias," I said, pointing a finger at him. "You're my friend, so I care about what happens to you."

"So do I," Rachel said, nodding.

"Look," Jake said. "I am not asking anyone else to go with me,. But I don't have a choice. I heard that scream today, and I know Tom is going down there tonight. He's my brother, I have to try and save him." He held out his hands helplessly. "I have to do it, for Tom."

"You don't have to ask me," I said, leaning back. "I'm in weather you guys like it or not."

"I'm going in too," Tobias said. "For the Andalite."

"There is no one else who can do anything to stop the Yeerks," Rachel said. "Those people at the construction site may not be able to bail us out again. I'm scared to death just by thinking about it, but I'm there."

Marco groaned a bit. "You're my best friend you jerk," he muttered to Jake. "Like I'm gonna let you face this alone? I'm in. I'm in to rescue Tom, that's it, then I'm done."

"Either way, we need better morphs that what we have now," I said. "Right now I think the most powerful morph we have is the wolf I acquired at Cassie's barn, not to mention mine and Tobias's birds of prey. We're gonna need some more firepower than a dog, lizard, horse, and house cats."

"He's right," Melissa said with a nod. "I think our best bet to get anything worthwhile would be the Garden, right?"

"I can get in free," Cassie said. "You guys will have to pay, but I can use my mom's employee discount, so it will be cheaper."

"Oh, I'm sure we could talk them into letting us in for nothing," Marco said. "Just tell them we're the Animorphs."

"Tell them we're what?" Rachel demanded.

"Idiot teenager with a deathwish," Marco said.

"Animorphs… Animal Morphers..." I said, grinning as I tested it out. "I _like _it… and don't worry about money getting in. I'll pay for us all."

The others all looked at me in surprise. "Really?" Melissa asked, sounding surprised. "I mean… we could probably pay..."

"Don't worry, it's cool," I said, waving my hand. "I've got a lot of cash to burn; might as well put it to a good cause."

Marco grinned. "How about getting me a Playstation or a Nintendo 64?" he asked teasingly with a bit of hopefulness.

I half-glared at Marco. "Don't test your luck," I said, and the others laughed.

* * *

**Later, The Garden**

* * *

I've read a lot of books on Animorphs, and the one thing that is almost constantly mentioned is The Garden, the perfect hybrid between a Zoo and an Amusement Park. And let me tell ya, actually being there almost had me shivering in excitement. As promised I payed for everyone's entry into the Garden. We walked through the amusement park half of the Garden, and believe me I was tempted to jump on some of the rides. They were just way too awesome!

But, unfortunately I knew I had bigger things to do, like getting me and the Animorphs some true combat morphs. Cassie led us to the main building which held all kinds of exhibits which had many different animals except the really big ones that needed a lot of space, which were un further out more grassy habitats that looked more like parks.

We walked near an otter habitat, when cassie stopped. "Okay, now everyone stays together, and try not to be too suspicious-looking, we're going inside."

"Right, no one start humming the Mission: Impossible theme," I whispered. "I'm looking at you Marco!" Marco just rolled his eyes but he had a smirk on his face.

"So, where _are _we going?" he asked.

"Well, the way it works is, there are walkways behind all of the exhibits." Cassie explained. "That's how they feed the animals, and give them meds or whatever. Meds are medicines. Sorry." She pointed to an inconspicuous doorway. "Anyways, we can go in through there."

We all nodded as we followed Cassie through the door, and we found ourselves out of the fake rainforest, and now in a hallway which looked like it belonged to a school, only it smelt WORSE. "Okay, look," Cassie said as we walked down the halls. "If any staff people stop us, the story is we're here to see my mom. Of course, it's so late in the afternoon she won't be here. I hope. Because if she finds out I've been dragging six of my friends around back here…. well, I can't be saving the world from alien invaders if I'm grounded. Hopefully , there won't be many staff people here at all."

"I've got my own excuse," I said, pulling out a notepad from my pocket. "I'll just tell them we're doing a school project on the animal kingdom, and you said you could give us a behind-the-scenes look at how animals in captivity are taken care of and treated."

Cassie blinked, but nodded as she guided us through the inner-workings of the Garden. It was a pretty straight-forward run at first, we got Marco to acquire his soon-to-be iconic Gorilla Morph, had a close call with the man who worked here before we continued on our way… but then the guards found us.

"Hey! Hey you! What are you kids doing back here?"

And then, everyone darted. Jake and Marco going one way, Cassie Rachel and Tobias going another way, and somehow I ended up grabbing Melissa and ran as we headed a completely different way. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, considering I didn't want to end up causing Jake to _not _get his tiger morph, or for Rachel to _not _get her elephant morph. So we just ran a bit aimlessly through the halls for a bit.

"Are we lost?" Melissa asked after we had wandered around for a few minutes.

"We're not lost," I reassured her as I looked at the labels for each of the rooms. "We just… don't know where we are."

"We're lost," Melissa muttered, bowing her head.

"Just… just hang on," I said, as we passed a few doors, each one marked a different label, P-303, P-304, and P-305. However as we walked by, I heard voices coming from one of the doors. "Shit, hide!" I hissed as me and Melissa took cover behind a steel cart. A few moments later, two men in lab coats lefts the door marked P-302, one of them carrying a Tranquilizer Gun.

"Glad _that's _over with," the first man said with a sigh. "I didn't think Lalah would ever fall asleep."

"She's a Lion, Carl," the second one said. "I just hope this whole project works. I hope she gets use to Tora."

"Hey, if this works the Garden will have a _Tigon_ exhibit!" the first man, Carl, said, grinning. "How awesome is that gonna be? And with Tora as a _White _Tiger..."

The second man just rolled his eyes. "You're such a child, Carl," he muttered. "But we won't have a liger until they both wake up and..." However their voices were drowned out as they walked away, and once they were gone me and Melissa got out of our cover.

"A tiger and a lion huh?" I said, a grin on my face while Melissa looked at me with a deadpan look.

"Jordan_, please _tell me you're joking," she whispered.

"They just said they're asleep," I reasoned. "That guy had a tranquilizer gun. We'll be fine. Besides, what better morph could we get than two of the biggest apex predators in the _world?_"

Melissa looked like she was about to argue, but she just groaned. "If _one _of them are awake, we're bailing," she said firmly, and I nodded as we stood up as we headed for the door. I saw a note on the side of the door, which read the Habitat was still a 'work in progress' and it wasn't open for the public yet, so we didn't have to worry about any onlookers spotting us. Using the key that was hanging by the door itself we unlocked it and entered the habitat. It was a large very jungle-like habitat, with trees and flowers across the ground and around us.

We walked forward for a few minutes, until finally we saw our first target: A lioness, a female tiger which was lying on the ground sound asleep, lying in the middle of a small grassy opening with sunlight shining through.

"Alright, there's the lioness," I said grinning. "Now, where is the-" Suddenly, I heard a soft grumble behind me, followed by the sound of licking lips as me and Melissa froze as we turned around… and standing right behind us, was the aforementioned tiger.

As the two zoo vets had mentioned, he was a Bengal Tiger, a _White _Bengal Tiger. To be honest when I was a kid I loved tigers, still do. I've read that Bengal Tigers are the national animal of India and Bangladesh, and is also one of the most numerous tiger subspecies known. I guess I got into them because my dad was a Cincinnati Bengals fan. Of course that wasn't what I was thinking about at the moment, as I was frozen in fear as I saw the tiger staring up at me.

"Jordan..." Melissa whispered, not sure what to do.

However, I took a closer look at the tiger… and I realized he was giving us a rather lazy gaze. He didn't look hungry, and it looked like his eyes were drooping… '_He was tranquilized,_' I thought. '_He's not asleep, but he will be soon..._'

"Melissa… acquire the lioness," I whispered, as Melissa looked at me like I was nuts. "I'll acquire the tiger… the acquiring process puts them in a trance, and in that time… we bail." Melissa looked like she was going to protest, but a quick glare from me silenced her, as she did as I instructed as I focused my eyes on the Tiger.

"Alright, buddy," I said to the Tiger. "I need something of yours to help me out… and I am _not _turning into your next meal. So, I'm going to touch you, and you are going to sleep. Capiche?"

The tiger didn't respond… well, not vocally. However it did lie down on the ground, resting its head on the ground as it continued to just stare up at me. I slowly reached my hand towards it, it was shaking like mad. Hell I was scared as shit right then… but I just kept reminding myself I was _not _about to die right there. My had touched the tiger's head, and I immediately began to acquire it.

My luck must of been holding out, as suddenly the tiger's eyes closed. I guess the acquiring trance caused the tranquilizer to speed up its effects, which I was thankful for at the moment. "Hear them Bengals Growing, mean and angry," I quietly sang to myself to calm my nerves. "Here he comes a'prowling, lean and hungrily. An offensive brute, Run Pass or boot, and defensively he's rough, tough! Cincinnati Bengals, that's the team we're gonna cheer to victory, touchdown bengals! Get some points up on that board and win a game for Cincinnati."

The tiger was now fast asleep, as I took my hand off of him as I glanced at Melissa who was just taking her hand off of the lioness. "You good?" I asked her as she looked back and nodded. A minute later we headed back to the entrance to the exhibit, as we both let out a breath we were holding. "Well… that was a close call." I said with a light chuckle.

"Yeah," Melissa said with a small smile. "But… we got some good morphs now, right?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here before any guards show up," I said, as I nodded in one direction as both me and Melissa walked down the hallway, following a map I found (by sheer luck on the ground) and got out of the hallways. We had a close encounter with another guard, however we left the main building and lost them in the crowds of the Garden.

"Well, we made it," Melissa said. "Now… where do we go? How do we find the others?"

"I'm sure they'll be fine," I said. "We just gotta wait… in the meantime… let's check out the dolphin exhibit." I mostly said that because I knew it would be where we would link up with Cassie, Rachel and Tobias… though part of me just wanted to see a nice calming dolphin show after that close encounter with a tiger.

So, me and Melissa reached the Dolphin exhibit, and for a while we just watched as the dolphins did their tricks to earn fish and such, as the crowds cheered them on. "Man, I hope we can morph those soon..." Melissa muttered, leaning over the rails a bit. "I can only wonder what it would be like to be a dolphin..."

I smiled a bit as I nodded. "Yeah, I know." I agreed. "Maybe someday we'll get the chance..."

For a few moments we were silent, before Melissa spoke up again. "Hey… Jordan?" she said. "What are… your parents like?"

I blinked, Melissa caught me a bit by surprise on that question. Why did she bring it up all of the sudden? Either way, I knew I had to answer, so I sighed. "Well… they were pretty much normal parents," I said. "They took care of me, helped me grow up, help me in school and all of that. They were… well, what any parent would be, caring about their children."

"Where are they now?" Melissa asked. I was silent for a few moments, as I tried to think of an answer to that. I knew _where _they were at, but I couldn't tell Melissa they were from an alternate dimension. But at the same time I didn't feel… comfortable about lying to Melissa… so I improvised.

"I… don't know," I said. "It's been a while since I've seen them… but I know I'll seem them soon someday. I just gotta keep looking for the day when I see them again."

Melissa hummed a bit as she nodded. "Yeah… I hope you do see them soon..." she said. "And Jordan? Thanks… again, for the… talk at the mall..."

"Don't mention it," I said smiling. "Just doing what I can to help a friend. It's what friends do, right?"

Melissa turned her head a bit, as she nodded. "Y-Yeah… " she said, it almost sounded like she stuttered, but I couldn't really tell with the dolphins splashing about.

"Hey, there you two are!" a familiar voice said behind us, as me and Melissa turned around as we saw Cassie, Tobias and Rachel approach.

"Hey guys!" I said, waving them over. "Check out the Dolphins, their awesome!"

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, they're really cool," she said, before she sent a teasing glance at Melissa. "Though, I hope we weren't…interrupting something here."

Melissa's cheeks seemed to darken a bit. "R-Rachel!" she hissed, which only caused her to laugh.

I had to turn my head, to hide a blush I was developing as well. "Anyways… me and Melissa were just thinking of what it would be like to be dolphins," I said, trying to change the subject quickly.

"We don't exactly need to morph them," Tobias pointed out. "We can only use them in water after all. Besides I'm happy with my hawk morph!"

"Well, you never know when you need a dolphin morph, considering our… line of business," I said with a shrug. "Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it… though I am guessing because of that you didn't get a morph then Tobias… what about you two?"

"African Elephant," Rachel said with a grin. "But we left before we could get anything else because Cassie wanted to find you and the others… speaking of, have you seen Jake or Marco?"

I shook my head "No, we got separated," I said and Melissa nodded. "Haven't seen 'em since."

"So, did you get any morphs you two?" Tobias asked as we started heading back to the entrance of the Garden.

Me and Melissa both grinned. "White Bengal Tiger," I said. "And Melissa got a lioness. We were lucky they were both tranquilized, but that Tiger was still awake but I put it to sleep with the acquiring trance."

"Yeah right," Rachel said rolling her eyes. "Like you could actually-"

"There they are!" Cassie said before we started to argue, as we looked and saw Marco and Jake, crouching low and making their way to the gate, obviously just getting out of their own close encounter with the Siberian Tiger enclosure and worrying about guards seeing them again.

"What did you do, morph into midgets?" Rachel asked, looking slightly amused as the two of them looked up at us.

"The guards were after us," Jake said, still looking a bit shaken up.

"Oh quit playing around Jake," said Rachel. "Come on let's get out of here, I have to be home for dinner."

* * *

**POV Unknown**

* * *

I watched from the vent as they entered the exhibits. So far so good…

The door closed shut behind them and I dialed in on my phone to my team. "You guys all set?" I asked.

Three replies answered. I smiled.

We were ready for when the Animorphs made their move against the Yeerks.

* * *

**Jordan's POV**

* * *

After we had left the Garden, I headed back to my house to talk to Jessica and the others, as we finalized our plan to help the Animorphs. Since I didn't have to worry about Cassie being caught, that was one huge weight on my shoulders taken off. But I still had to be alert for _anything _to happen when the first battle inside the Yeerk pool went down.

I flew in my Northern Goshawk morph as I flew back to my place, as I approached I could see a large U-Haul moving van parked in the driveway along with Jessica's team Hummer. We had decided to go ahead and move her team from her old place to my place, due to the more defendable positions, comfortable living place, and the Perception Filter providing additional assurance that no one would find the place by accident. Steven didn't like the idea at first considering I didn't have an airfield for his crop duster… but thankfully there was a large enough flat area that was VERY close to my house where we could not only set one up, but make it a bit bigger than their old one so some more larger aircraft could land.

I landed in the driveway and quickly demorphed, and once I was fully human again I walked inside "Yo Jessica! You guys here?" I called out.

The door opened and I entered. She was already there with her friends, standing and waiting for me.

"Yeah, we're here," she said. "We were just bringing some more stuff in. How did the mission to the Garden go? You get any good morphs?"

I grinned. "White Bengal Tiger," I said. "And Melissa got a Lioness."

She smiled. "Good. We've finished transferring all our supplies," she said. "If you want, I can show you what we've gotten over these past three months."

"Sure," I said with a nod. "Then we'll find out where to put all of the stuff, I don't know where to keep all of the extra guns and ammo you guys brought."

Jessica nodded. "Good. C'mon." She turned and walked off with her friends and me in tow. "Most of the gear we got is stuff we bought once the Ellimist set us up. The only thing he provided us with is the house, the air strip and a couple thousand dollars. Everything else we had to get ourselves. When we ran out of cash we had to do a lot of odd jobs from being janitors to all sorts of jobs you'd expect to see on Dirty Jobs."

I grimaced. "Man, that's gotta suck..."

She nodded. "You have no idea…" She finally came to a door further inside, the room which was designated as the 'temporary armory'. She opened it to reveal the stash she and her team accumulated.

I was, to be honest, impressed, and a bit in awe. A few of the weapons she and her team had were state-of-the-art at the time, like a rocket launcher and some grenades for a grenade launcher. There were even a few landmines hidden in there somewhere. The most common though were guns. Those ranged from hunting rifles to a Barretta sniper rifle and some AK-47s among other standard issue firearms. The ammo was stashed in clips and magazines, as well as designated ammo boxes for easier access and reloading capacity.

I let out a whistle. "Nice…" I murmured. "Lot of guns you've got here..."

"Yeah, it's a lot," Tony said. "But ammo ain't cheap, so we could never spend too much on the more state-of-the-art weapons like explosives very often." He then grinned as he patted me on the back. "Once again, we owe you big time kid. The cash you've got will go a _long _way in our future operations."

"We did get a few landmines, though," Vanessa said. "Stole them from one of our earlier raids on the Yeerks where they had a cache of human weapons for Human-Controllers to use. We're saving them for emergencies, though."

"Sounds good," I said nodding, "What about your Computer gear and all of that?"

"We've filled that stuff in the next room over," Jessica said, gesturing her head to the left where another door was. "One of the bedrooms. We haven't set anything up yet though."

"Don't worry about that," I said. "I'm hoping to make this place bigger. I want to make an underground bunker system under the house where we can more safely keep all of our weapons and supplies. I've already got a food bunker the Ellimist provided for me, but I want to expand on that. I'm taking a few ideas from that show Doomsday Preppers I saw back home."

Vanessa nodded. "All right. The more room we have the better," she said. "You can't be too careful with Yeerks flying around."

"Not to mention we need some fuel for both the Hummer and Steven's plane," Jessica remarked.

Steven nodded. "Yeah. Tell me about it. We're down to the last few gallons for it," he grumbled.

"Hey, one trillion dollar man here," I said, chuckling a bit. "I can buy all the fuel you'll need for those, then again I think it would be wise to start… moving away from Fossil Fuels since it's a bit expensive even now in 1998, its best to start working on alternative fuel sources."

"You mean going green?" Tony breathed. "I...I don't know…" He looked a bit uncertain about the whole idea.

"I think it's a great idea," Jessica said. "I mean, sure he could buy regular fuel, but why risk it when we can remove emissions entirely? And we can start with the Hummer. Steven's very protective of his plane for some reason."

"We won't be able to switch out of Petroleum products for a while though," I said. "I'm thinking of something like a type of Biofuel or something to replace Fossil Fuels for our stuff, among some other ideas I have. So we'll stick with normal gas until I can figure out what we can use as an equal replacement."

Jessica nodded. "Good plan." Then she smiled. "I like your way of thinking! And I have an idea myself for the Big U's fuel when the time comes. It's a little something I did some research on before coming here. Ever hear of biocoal? It's basically some extract from wood that's turned into lightweight pellets like coal and it's much higher in energy output, not to mention all that it gives off for byproducts are hydrogen and methane."

"I've heard of it too a while ago," I said nodding. "However the things I have planned for new fuel are much more reliant if everything works out… and if I am _really _lucky, this could inadvertently give us yet another income for cash."

"Well, then what are you planning for fuel alternatives?" Jessica asked.

"I'll tell you if it works," I said with a small smirk before I turned serious. "Either way, we don't have much more time. In a few hours we begin the mission to strike the Yeerk Pool, and it will be our first debut of the 'Andalite Bandits' aka the Animorphs. We stick with the plan. Your team strikes the old warehouse entrance, while I work with the others in infiltrating the school entrance. Hopefully things will be easier now that we don't have to worry about Cassie being caught by that Yeerk cop. I made sure of that during the last Sharing Meeting."

"Good," she said. "We'll be ready!" With that, she turned and headed off with her friends to the armory.

I smiled a bit before I headed off for the kitchen, wanting to eat something before I headed out. It was nice to have people in the house; it was starting to get pretty lonely living here by myself. I didn't want to turn into some hermit who lived in the mountains alone… a hermit with a giant mansion-sized house, an air strip, and bunkers…

Anyways, after I had gotten something to eat the phone rang. I moved to answer it as I picked it up, knowing that only a few people know my phone, I made a good guess who it was. "Tobias?" I asked.

"_Yeah, Jake just called._" Tobias said. "_We're moving out for the school. You ready?_"

I sighed. "Ready as I'll ever be," I said. "Did everyone call in?"

"_Yeah… well, Rachel says Melissa didn't pick up her phone,_" Tobias said. "_And neither did her parents either._"

My blood started to run cold, as I began to get a very unsettling feeling about Melissa not picking up. I don't know why, but something felt… off about that.

"She didn't pick up?" I asked, making sure my voice still sounded normal. "That's weird."

"_Yeah, then again she might already be at the school waiting for us,_" Tobias said. "_Anyways, see you there._"

I nodded. "Yeah… see ya." I said as I hung up. Still feeling that _very _bad feeling that something was wrong. I had stopped Cassie from being caught by the cop, I knew that… but I couldn't help but worry…

However, I shook those thoughts off as I headed for the door and began morphing into Goshawk, taking for the skies. It was only a short flight to the school, as I landed in a small patch of trees outside and demorphed, and headed for the rendezvous point with the others, where I found Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, and Tobias, the latter of whom was already in hawk morph and in the air which did _not _fill me with good thoughts. However again, I was feeling very uneased about this.

"No one has seen Melissa at all?" I asked once I arrived.

Rachel shook her head. "No, I called her home but no one answered. Tobias is looking around the area, but he hasn't had any luck yet."

"Should we wait until she shows up?" Cassie suggested. "Wait until we find out what happened?"

"Maybe she just got scared," Marco suggested. "I know I am."

I shook my head. "No… I don't think so," I said. "I've got a very bad feeling about this..."

"Me too," Rachel said nodding. "Melissa wouldn't just bail out like this. At the very least she would have called me to tell me she wasn't coming." A few moments later, Tobias flew back down as he landed on Rachel's shoulder, not looking annoyed at as as I noticed her head rub against him a little. It almost looked a bit funny, but I wasn't in a laughing mood at the moment.

"_No sight of Melissa,_" Tobias said. "_We doing this or what?_"

Everyone looked at Jake, as the final decision befell upon him. He looked at us all, before he sighed. "Yeah, we're doing it," he said.

* * *

**Jessica POV**

* * *

The first thing I did was change into my battle gear. I slipped on the uniform and clasped the vest on. Finally, I placed the helmet on my head and double-checked the boots. I looked over at my friends who were similarly dressed. I nodded and we headed for the armory.

I snatched up my favorite gun, the AK-47 I had first acquired. I slapped some ammo onto my belt and grabbed a few grenades. Vanessa took the chance to grab a landmine and armed herself with a Stoner 63 Machine Gun, and a M72 LAW anti-tank rocket launcher. Tony grabbed an RPG-7 launcher and a AK-74. He stuffed a grenade in the back and aimed it at the wall while Steven snatched a Makarov pistol and some flashbangs for his arsenal, along with a M249 SAW light Machine Gun for some stopping power. I spun my gun in my hands a few times and aimed it while going for the dagger strapped to my leg.

Once we were set, we hopped in the Hummer and drove out, heading for the warehouse as fast as we could go.

Now we were set, and there was nothing Visser Three could do to stop us!

"You guys set?" I asked once we arrived.

Steven nodded. "Yeah. Let's get there and meet up with the Animorphs. The raid's about to start."

Vanessa shifted before hefting the bazooka. "Yeah. And no holding back."

Tony revved the Hummer's engine a few times. "You guys get out. I'll clear a path for you!" he said.

We nodded and bailed out just as he gunned it and the vehicle leapt ahead, tearing through the side opening. The interior was empty, so that was lucky. But the entrance wasn't.

The Hummer crashed into the door and broke it down, it ran forward for a few seconds long enough for it to plowed down a Taxxon, resulting in a loud, gross popping sound as it blew like an overgrown balloon. I grimaced as we ran past it. "Geez! What a smell!" I muttered.

"Clear!" Tony shouted as he got out of the blood-covered Hummer. "Can't take her out any further; gonna have to go by foot the rest of the way."

I nodded, as we began heading down the stairs at a fast pace, with all of us running with our primary weapons drawn. The route down was clear, so we didn't have to worry about casualties resulting from the attack.

* * *

**Jordan's POV**

* * *

Using the access route through the unlocked science lab window, we managed to get into the school easy enough. The only source of light coming from the dying lights of the sun as it glinted off of the glass breakers and test tubes.

"I'll take a look see," I said, beating Jake to the punch as I headed for the door. I creaked the door open slowly, just large enough for me to see outside. I looked down the near dark hallway to the janitor's closet, and there I saw about six people standing there, entering the closet one by one.

"We've got people entering the closet," I whispered back to the others. "Half a dozen… looks like it's Yeerk feeding time."

"How are we gonna get in there?" Marco asked.

"Wait a minute," Rachel said. "Do all Controllers know each other by sight? I mean, maybe _we're _controllers?" She added the last part with a smirk.

"So, we just walk right on in like we belong there?" Marco asked. "Wonderful plan, Rachel. I have a better idea - let's just kill ourselves now and get it over with."

"Rachel _could _be right," Cassie said.

"Big maybe," Marco pointed out. "Big, _huge _maybe. How about Tom? He would know whether people like me or Jake were Controllers."

"It's likely Tom may already be down there," I said, peeking again. "And Rachel has a point - during the Second World War German Commandos used Allied uniforms behind their lines during the Battle of the Bulge, and the Allies couldn't tell the difference at first. We could do the same and pretend to be Controllers. There is no way every single Yeerk could tell who's a Controller and who's not. Too many different humans out there. Its worth a-"

I stopped myself as I saw three more people show up… and my blood immediately ran cold. The first person I recognized from the Animorphs T.V. show, Vice Principal Hedrick Chapman. The second one was a woman I didn't recognize, but the third…

My teeth barred a bit, as I let out a silent growl. "_Jordan?_" Tobias asked. "_What is it? Is something wrong?_"

"They have her," I hissed. "The damn Controllers… They've got Melissa!"

The others' eyes widened, none more so than Cassie and Rachel. "W-What?" Rachel stammered. "Who has Melissa… how?"

"Chapman, her dad," I growled out. "Melissa said they got in a fight a while ago… it looks like the Yeerks decided to deal with her once and for all..."

"Son of a bitch!" Rachel cursed, letting out a series of other choice words as she moved me aside, and got a look for herself. "It _is_ him… and Mrs. Chapman. Like _hell _I'm letting them take her!"

"Okay, we're going in like Rachel said," Jake spoke up quickly. "We figure there are too many Controllers for them to know one another on sight. I mean, they must have new bodies to infect all the time, right? So maybe we're new Controllers?"

"Oh man," Marco moaned.

"We're going in, and we're saving Melissa," I said firmly, my eyes narrowed. I don't know why, but something inside me was just _screaming _to go ahead, morph Tiger and rip up any Controller between me and Melissa, but I had to keep those thoughts in check. This was still a stealth mission for me. "We have no other plan, we go in now!"

"I know, I know," Marco said. "We take our chances with this, let's rock and roll."

"Okay then," Jake said. "Everyone act cool." He glanced at Tobias. "Too late for you to morph back now. But try not to let them see you."

Tobias nodded his hawk head, as we all stepped out of the hallway and headed for the closet. We were all nervous… scratch that, we were _beyond_ nervous. We were _terrified_. But I knew this plan would work. It _had _to or else not only would Melissa get Yeerked, but so would we all. Luckily enough the other Controllers had gone inside already, so when we entered the tiny room. Jake followed the correct sequence for opening the door.

And then, the door opened. And then I heard the screams.

Screams of of terror, despairing cries and shouts, and the most sickening of all, shrieking triumphant laughter. I heard Marco say something about running if he saw a guy with horns and a pitchfork… I wouldn't blame him.

We stepped down the opening to the stairs. I knew deep in my heart and soul, that I was stepping into a Hell the likes of which earth has ever known. For each step we took, I knew we were moving closer to what could be the most evil place on earth.

We continued walking, deeper and deeper to the pool, until we arrived at a massive cavern. Along the sides of which I could see other stairways like ours, coming from all directions leading out from the rocky walls and down to the floor of the cavern. And on the ground floor I could see sheds and buildings built into the side of the cavern like a giant city, and large yellow caterpillar-like constructs and cranes that were obviously used in creating the massive facility. We could see aliens from Hork-Bajir and Taxxons to dozens of aliens I had never seen, however I think I saw a Gedd or in the mix among other things. However there were of course mostly humans.

And then, I saw it. The heart of this evil place, the Yeerk Pool. A 100 in diameter circular pool with a sickly greyish color looking like melted lead, as it sloshed around as hundreds, maybe thousands of Yeerks swam around in their natural state, absorbing what they need to survive in their most vulnerable state. And around it I could see the cages, with Hork-Bajir locked in larger heavy-duty cages, pacing and howling slashing the air with their bladed arms. And then there were the smaller cages for humans, men, women, children, adults, all packed into cages like animals, making me think of places like morges, graveyards and Nazi Death Camps.

I knew I should've expected this. I knew I should've prepared for what I might see down there. But no amount of reading every last Animorphs book could of prepared me for actually seeing - with my own two eyes- the Yeerk Pool. At at the bottom, at the line to the infection pier, I could see Melissa being dragged by her own mother and father to be infected.

"I'm morphing!" Rachel growled out. "I'm going to get Melissa away from them. "

"Not yet," Cassie said, putting a calming hand on her shoulder. "We need to get down there first."

"_Melissa's okay, Rachel,_" Tobias said. "_She isn't hurt, she's just scared- hey, Jordan!_"

But Tobias was too late, I was marching down the stairs down to the pool with a glare that could kill Visser Three etched into my eyes. I don't know what came over me, but it was like every inch of my body was on auto-pilot with two goals in mind: Kill all Yeerks, and save Melissa. '_Thrown into cages like animals,_' I was thinking. '_How many people are in this hellhole? You sons of bitches… scumbags… mother fuckers..._' My thoughts soon formed into words that I was silently muttered under my breath. "You Mother Fuckers think you can just throw us into goddamn cages? Take our planet, and enslave our families? I'll burn you sons of bitches! We're not fucking cattle for you to slaughter! I'm gonna make you fuckers pay!"

The others were following me, catching up to me as I marched down the stairs. "Jordan, calm down!" Jake hissed. "You won't do them any good dea-" He was cut off as I shot a glare at him, which must have scared the others a bit. When I get mad, people tell me it's a scary sight. But at that moment I wasn't mad… I was _livid._

"I am getting into cover…" I growled out. "Morphing tiger… and I will kill _everything _between me and that pool, and then we are going to free _everyone _there. Don't you _fucking _try to stop me, Jake!"

* * *

**Jessica's POV**

* * *

I glanced over and noticed that Jordan and the others had arrived, but they clearly were holding Jordan back for some reason. I frowned a bit, however using the scope on my rifle I could see his face. He was angry, livid even. He was on the verge of going, as he would probably put it, ape-shit.

However, I hoped that he could keep himself under control long enough for the plan to begin. Basically, the Animorphs would strike first, as they move in and reach the pier and start rescuing all of the people being kept captive there.

However, I looked towards the pier, and I silently cursed as I saw Melissa being dragged by her parents towards the infection pier. I tapped the team radio we set up. "We've got a problem," I said. "Melissa's being dragged to the infection pier. Looks like she's the one in trouble now in place of Cassie."

"_Ah, shit, that's not good,_" Tony muttered from where he was set up. "_What do we do?_"

"We wait for the Animorphs to attack first, as planned." I said. "But if she gets too close to the pier, we improvise and start a distraction, hopefully one long enough for Melissa to break free. Got it?"

"_Got it,_" everyone replied.

* * *

**Jordan's POV**

* * *

I was able to reign in my anger if just a bit, but just long enough for me and the others to reach the bottom of the stairs to take cover behind a shed. Tobias was up in the sky outside the sight of the Yeerks, keeping an eye on Tom who was locked in a cage, and Melissa. I heard Marco and Jake talking about not letting the Yeerks take them alive, and as if on cue I heard the voice of another man shout "Hey! You three!" We turned around, as we saw a single Human-Controller, flanked by a much larger Hork-Bajir Controller and a Taxxon. He had only noticed Jake, Marco and me, he didn't see Cassie or Rachel behind them. "Who are you?"

Knowing I had to buy some time for the others to morph, I had to take a risky gambit. I stepped forward. "I am Odret One-One-Seven," I said, completely making up a Yeerk name on the spot. "From the Sulp Niar Pool… is there a problem?"

Obviously I had caught the Yeerk and Hork-Bajir by surprise, as were the Animorphs. The Human-Controller looked at me, still a slightly suspicious look in his eyes. "Who are those with you?" he asked, pointing to Jake and Marco behind me.

"My comrades," I said. "We're here for Kandrona of course, why else would we be here?" I had a brief glance behind the Controllers where I saw Rachel was already morphing, getting bigger… much, much bigger, as large leathery ears popped from her head, and her nose stretched out into a long elephant-like trunk. And before long… Rachel was now a thirteen foot tall African Elephant. "_Ha HA!_" she cheered in thought-speak. "_I did it!_"

It was then that the Taxxon was the first one to notice Rachel with its big red-jelly eyes but he must have been so shocked by what was behind it he couldn't react as Rachel began to charge. The Hork-Bajir however managed to spin around to slice Rachel's trunk, but it was too little too late as Rachel was already moving forward, and a little flesh wound like that wasn't going to stop her. "_Puny little thing!_" Rachel cried in outrage "_You attack ME!?_" The Hork-Bajir got trampled on, smashed under Rachel's great weight, and the Taxxon tried to run as well, but with similar results.

The Human-Controller however just looked in morbid shock with his mouth hanging open. "What the..." he muttered. However I moved behind him and with a severe chop to the back of the neck, I managed to knock him down to the ground, and when he was down I delivered three good punches to his face. When I was sure he was out, I looked back at the others. "Morph! Now!" I shouted.

This snapped the others out of their stunned gazes, as they began their morphs. I stood up as I closed my eyes, and focused on my first combat morph. The Bengal Tiger. I moved into the shadows as Rachel was already going full-berserk on the Controllers, and I glanced at Marco and Jake as their changes began, Marco growing fur and Jake growing his own tiger tail. I glanced at Cassie, and found she hasn't morphed yet for some reason. She saw my gaze and spoke. "Someone with hands needs to open those cages," she said. "Besides, the only morph I have is a horse."

I nodded, as I continued to focus on my tiger morph. I focused on every aspect of the great creature, from the white and black fur of its body, down to all of the strength and power I knew it hid. The only things I had morphed up to that point were two types of birds and a mouse. I knew that morphing a full-fledged tiger would be a different experience entirely.

I was right.

The first thing that began to change were, surprisingly my ears. My human ears receded back into my head, but they were quickly replaced by white and black tiger ears which sprouted from my head. Soon I began to feel my bones and body shifting, losing my human shape as I was forced to fall to all fours as my body elongated, and expanded to meet the size and shape of a tiger. My head grew as did my teeth in my mouth, as I began to see things differently through the eyes of a tiger.

Soon, I had done it. I had become a full-fledged 100% White Bengal Tiger. And then I was hit by the massive surge of power that came with it, feeling like there was a series of slow-motion explosions of power within me. I could feel my teeth, my claws, everything which made me a Tiger. And the eyes, with the eyes of a Tiger I could see even the most darkest corners of the pool.

I felt like a god.

A vengeful god, who wanted to punish the Yeerks for tormenting the humans of earth for far too long.

**BGM: 'Red like Roses Part II RWBY OST: **** watch?v=VAGJr-BBZPg****'**

I stepped out from the shadows that hid me from the sights of the Yeerks, all of them focusing on the already morphed Rachel who was causing chaos among the Yeerks, squishing Taxxons and tossing Hork-Bajir like rag dolls. Marco and Jake were just beginning to finish their morphs, but I took the initiative to give the Yeerks another target to attack.

So I roared.

"RRRROOOOOOWWWWLLLL!"

The sound of the roar was practically ear-shattering, as any nearby human controller's legs turned to jello and fell in fear. Taxxons scurried away, and even mighty Hork-Bajir froze in fear. Using this moment of hesitation to my advantage, I charged forward, running on all four legs as I rushed to the closest Hork-Bajir, and once I was close enough I leaped into the air, soaring through it as I pounced on the alien creature, the strength of my strike pushing the Hork-Bajir down to the ground. While it was still stunned, I extended my Tiger claws, and ripped apart its neck, turning it into shreds.

When the Hork-Bajir was thoroughly dead, I jumped off of him to search for my next target, leaving little time to consider I had just killed the alien creature. My mind was entirely focused on saving Melissa, not caring what got in my way. I saw Marco and Jake had fully morphed, and were already going at it against the Controllers with Rachel in her elephant morph. I saw Cassie trying to sneak behind the Yeerk lines in the confusion, making her way to the infestation pool to save Melissa.

I directed myself towards the direction of the Pool, as I saw Melissa was just behind the next person in line to be Yeerked. She was fighting and screaming trying to wrestle out of her parents' grasps. I let out a tiger growl as I moved as fast as my tiger body could take me, knowing I had to get there before it was too late. With my enhanced Tiger hearing, I could hear Melissas words as she fought against her parents, trying to be freed.

However…something odd happened. It almost looked like the Yeerk inside Chapman had enough of Melissa, and raised his free hand to slap Melissa, causing her to flinch… but it froze. It remained suspended in the air for a few moments, as Chapman's eyes went wide, and suddenly so did Mrs. Chapman's as well. Suddenly, they let go of Melissa, as they fell to their knees, punching themselves and choking themselves.

It was then, it hit me. '_Host Rebellion… Its a Host Rebellion!_' I thought. If I still had a human mouth I would be grinning wickedly. '_The Chapman's are fighting back!_' Just as I thought this, I could hear Chapman croak out the words "Melissa, run!" which was all she needed as she darted away from the infestation pier. The Hork-Bajir guard attempted to grab her, but at that point… I had finally arrived.

"RRRROOOOOOWWWWLLLL!" I let out another animalistic roar, as I tackled the Hork-Bajir, my claws piercing through his chest as the Hork-Bajir fell backwards into the Pool. I then turned to Melissa, who had a look of surprise on her face.

"_Melissa!_" I shouted in Thought-Speech, directed at her "_Find some cover and morph! Once we free as many people we can, we're bailing!_"

Melissa looked at me in shock, but nodded as she rushed off to an area to Morph. I looked back at where Marco was, as he was being blocked off from the cages by a large group of Taxxons. Although Taxxons are easy enough to kill, in large numbers they can easily pose a threat. However I knew that Taxxons had one very critical weakness that can always be exploited.

I made a mad dash towards Marco and the Taxxons, slicing at the legs of a Human-Controller and biting off the neck of a Hork-Bajir that got in my way, but managed to get a small slash into my side, but I trudged on before I reached the first Taxxon. I raised my claws, and slashed open the first Taxxon, its balloon-like body bursting into a pool of gore, some of which fell onto me. However the deed was done, as the other Taxxons began to swarm over their fallen comrade, eating him alive.

"_Marco, head for the cages, and free as many people as you can! I'll hold them off!_" I shouted, "_Taxxons are cannibals! Just wound one and the Taxxons will forget about us!_"

"_How the hell do you know that?_" Marco shouted as he delivered a punch to another Taxxon, sending it flying. "_You write a book on alien biology or something?_"

"_JUST FUCKING DO IT!_" I shouted louder, as I tore another Taxxon to pieces. "_Grab Tom, free as many others as you can, and then we fucking bail!_"

That apparently got the message across, as Marco moved from the Taxxons and headed for the cages, using his morph's superior strength to crush and tear off the locks and bars of the cages, letting the captive humans and Hork-Bajir out.

"_Jessica, if you're here, now would be a very good time for you to help out!_" I said in thought-speak, directed at the area I thought Jessica and her team would come from.

* * *

_**Meanwhile, Jessica POV**_

* * *

"_Jessica, if you're here, now would be a very good time for you to help out!_"

I perked up at hearing the voice. I turned to face the direction and spotted a white tiger tearing through the enemy. I knew he probably couldn't see me, but I still nodded before I turned and grabbed my gun, holding it at the ready.

Now we could begin.

I looked at my friends and nodded. "Let's go!" I shouted.

"Black Swords, mobilize!"

Vanessa by now had removed the landmine from her back and was heading for a ladder some distance away, throwing smoke bombs as she went to disrupt other Controllers guarding the supplies. Steven followed her, his brown eyes hard as he gripped a canister in his hand, pressing down and releasing a gas of some kind that forced a few Human-Controllers back holding their noses. I caught a brief whiff and I grimaced, but I was grinning inside.

Steven whipped his body around and fired off a shot from his pistol at a Hork-Bajir coming closer to the two, hitting it right in the chest and forcing it back. The alien clutched at the hole in its chest before it collapsed, the last of its life seeping away out that very hole. The pilot turned and ran for the ladder with Vanessa beside him. Together they hefted the ladder over their heads and ran for the entrance. I watched as they placed it against the wall and clambered up to the top. Vanessa grabbed the mine and, holding it in her hand, reached for some C4 in her pack. She pulled it out and handed the pack down to Steven who removed some and plastered it on the back of the mine. Once secured, she reached in and pulled out a detonator, sticking it in the plastic explosive. Then she slapped that mine right over the entrance. Once it was secured, she and Steven slid down the ladder and ran up to me.

"Explosive's set!" Vanessa reported.

"Good. Now let's go help the others!" I ordered.

They nodded and we split up, heading right for the center of it all: the Yeerk Pool.

Tony charged into the fray, his RPG launcher at the ready. He fired off a shot, hitting several of the Hork-Bajir controllers with one explosive. He then spun and whipped out a smaller HK pistol and fired, sending a few rounds at the direction of a Taxxon coming his way. The bullet hit the closest Taxxon and burst it like a balloon. The blood was enough to rile up a few other Taxxons close by and they started to feast upon their fellow. But that was the furthest thing from my mind.

Vanessa had by now finally armed her LAW and fired off the rocket, striking the closest group of Gedd and leaving them to die. The explosion caught a ton of Human Controllers by surprise and they turned, only to see the chaos happening right there in front of them. That gave Steven time to charge forward and plunge into the thick of it all. I had no idea as to what he was up to, but I guessed it had to do with the look of sheer rage in his eyes.

* * *

**Steven POV**

* * *

I ran as fast as my legs could take me, my hand gripping the pistol tightly. My eyes darted around the pool and I instantly picked out the others as they began their attack. Jordan was tearing through the ranks of the Yeerks with the others right behind him. Already the floor was awash in blood and other body fluids as they continued to bring chaos to the area. I leapt over a dying Hork-Bajir and fired a single shot, killing it and ending it's misery.

A shadow off to the side caught my attention and I spun, grabbing a flashbang and arming it as I threw it right for the shadowy shape's face. The grenade exploded and I threw up an arm to shield my eyes as I skidded behind a large construction machine. I whipped my body around and fired off my pistol, the bullets stitching a path along the ground towards the creature.

The shadow seemed to sense me, however, and prepared to move out to intercept me. I gritted my teeth and scurried up the crane like a monkey, arming a gas grenade and throwing it right for the shape. The gas grenade exploded, releasing a very potent gas I once used so long ago it seemed. The stench was enough to get the shape to back off as I flung another flashbang its way. This time, however, the flash caught the shape in its light briefly and shock flooded my very body. I swore my...heart...would stop at the sight.

"NO!" I shouted. "You sick slugs! How dare you!"

The shape sneered as it came closer. I held my pistol out in front of me, wishing right then and there that I had the ability to fly once more. "What?" the familiar voice purred. "This is only a bonus, isn't it?"

"Get out of her, now!" I hissed, my voice low.

"Sorry. No can do~!" the Yeerk sang using her voice. "This host is just what I was hoping for. And now...I have the perfect means to take you out!"

"Well, you just made a big mistake, you piece of shit!" I hissed, my eyes narrowed as I aimed my pistol, although I knew that there was no way the bullets could do any harm at this range. I glanced about, looking for something to give myself the edge in this fight. But there was nothing. I was totally outmatched and outgunned. I couldn't fly, so that left me with only one other option.

I grabbed a smoke grenade and threw it right at her. It exploded, blinding her with thick smoke as I darted out of sight and behind a building as I panted, my chest heaving as I struggled to take in air into my lungs. I cocked my pistol and ran away as she came around the corner, her eyes flicking about as she struggled to pick me out amidst the other hosts and scrambling Human Controllers.

"C'mon...c'mon! There has to be something I can do!" I muttered.

Right now I just felt so useless. In this state, I was vulnerable and unable to really do anything. But then again, there were some bonuses I figured. One was that I couldn't be infested. Second was the fact that I could blend in much easier. But that was out of the question if I ever...kicked the bucket.

Anyway, I had to do something, but what could I do?

My eyes finally settled on a large pile of pipes lashed together, just waiting to be installed for the next segment of the pool. And an idea sprang to mind. I smirked before it was cut short by the Yeerk coming my way. I turned and ran for those pipes, my muscles beginning to burn as I ran. I had never done this much physical activity in a while, but if there was one thing I did have it was great endurance and a strong constitution. I forced the pain of my aching muscles from my mind as I neared the pipes. But before I even got to them a group of Human Controllers and a couple Hork-Bajir got in the way.

"Get outta my way!" I shouted, firing off my Makarov pistol. A few bullets hit one of the Human Controllers and he went down, blood spilling from three holes in his arm and one in his leg. I skidded around another Human Controller and lashed out in a roundhouse, hitting the guy in the back and sending him sprawling as I dealt a powerful punch to his companion. She went down with a squeak as I spun and hit the other Human Controller in the back of the neck. I whipped my body around and fired off a spread of bullets that hit three Human Controllers all in the legs. They fell with screams of pain and I finished one of them off as he went for a Dracon Beam. That was my chance. I snatched the weapon and hefted it in my free hand. Now armed with twin guns - one ballistic and the other energy - I went to town. I placed my feet down and started to spin, both guns blazing as I cut a path to those pipes. And since I now had a beam weapon…

I spun one-eighty degrees and fired off a single beam shot.

The red beam lanced out from my weapon, hitting the ground and scorching a neat hole in it. She skidded to a stop, her eyes fixed on mine. But I knew that it was a Yeerk looking out through her eyes as she glared at me, her teeth bared in hatred.

But she wasn't about to let me reach my target. She positioned herself squarely behind me and prepared to charge.

I wasn't about to give her that chance. Still holding the Dracon Beam, I ran for the pipes, leaping over a Hork-Bajir as he tried to slice me in half. I kicked out with my right foot and nailed him on the face. He went down with a broken nose. His companion leapt for me and I landed on his back, suddenly wrapping my legs around his neck and, using my body weight alone, flipped him and broke his neck with a loud snap. The dead alien collapsed and I was on my feet in a flash, running for the pipes. I aimed the Dracon Beam at the cables holding them together and fired, the beam singing them away and letting the pipes fall.

Momentum caught them and gravity took over, sending them rolling right for the Yeerk and any other remaining Controllers. I leapt to the side, landing on my feet and skidding, still holding both guns in my hands. My palms were slick with sweat, but that didn't matter. The pipes were in motion and I smirked. "Let's see how you like a little rock'n'roll!" I called.

Her eyes widened and she screamed as she turned and darted off, taking off not a moment too soon. I glanced up and followed her trajectory, my brown eyes narrowing as I picked out a large ventilation shaft. Perfect for one of her type.

"That's the last straw!" I muttered. "That freak thinks he can mess with my friends….Oh, he just made a big mistake! And I'm gonna make sure he regrets it!" I clenched my guns tightly as I made that vow. "This...I swear…Willma!"

Once I was sure that she was gone, I turned and ran back towards the fight. By now the Animorphs and Jordan had managed to free the majority of the hosts and were now vanishing into the chaos. But that didn't mean it was over. Oh, no. The battle was just about to begin.

* * *

**POV Unknown**

* * *

The attack was just getting started. From what I could see, the Animorphs and the other fighters were getting into the thick of things, which was just perfect for us...or me, actually. I reached for my belt and pulled off a grenade. I glanced down at the pool from my hiding spot atop a large crane and smirked. This was gonna be good!

I pulled the pin and waited a second before I chucked that thing as hard as I could.

My teammates say that I have a good arm when it comes to throwing these things. And it, I might add, is very true. That grenade flew at least fifty feet before falling into the pool and exploding, causing even more chaos as hosts and captors were forced to bail off the metal piers as slugs came flying out of the pool and landing on them. Even some of that sludge landed on the piers.

A beep in my headset caught my attention and I knew what that meant. Time to bail.

So I did.

* * *

**Jordan's POV**

* * *

There was a short brief pause in the fight me and the Animorphs were fighting in, as we looked to see Jessica's team attack the Yeerks. I let out a small smirk, it was nice to see she had made it.

"_Who the hell are those guys?_" Marco asked after he bashed open another cage holding a human captive.

"_Reinforcements,_" I said. "_Looks like our friends from the Construction Site decided to help out. Just keep freeing people Marco! We've got you covered!_"

Marco didn't say anything, but he continued doing what he was doing. I heard a loud lion roar behind me followed by a cry of pain as I looked behind and saw a Lioness pronounce on a Hork-Bajir that was trying to sneak up behind me, and sliced a good few slashes into its chest. "_You should be more careful, Jordan,_" Melissa said in thought-speak. "_He almost got you._"

I mentally smirked. "_Well, its a good thing you have my back Melissa._" I said. "_You alright?_"

"_Yeah, for the most part._" Melissa said, as the two of us stood side by side. "_Thanks for the save, you guys._"

"_Hey, we weren't about to let them get you!_" Rachel shouted, in the distance we could see her elephant form tearing through the Yeerk lines easily. "_Now come on, we gotta finish this up ASAP._"

Back by the others, a loud rumbling resonated and I looked back just in time to see a bunch of pipes go rolling and Steven leaping to the side. I smirked mentally at that, the guy had skills there was no doubt about that. Jessica came running through at that moment and blazed away with her gun at a group of Taxxons, turning to me. "Vanessa's got a mine plastered above the entrance! We've gotta bail now!" she shouted.

"_Who the hell are you?_" Melissa demanded, her Lioness body on alert and teeth barred.

"_Melissa, don't worry, they're with me._" I said, causing the human-morphed-Lioness to look at me in surprise "_These are the same people that bailed us out at the Construction Yard, they're here to help._"

"He's right." Jessica said as she dropped her spent clip of ammo before replacing it with a new one. "We gotta get out of here before the Yeerks get organized. We've freed as many people we could, we gotta get out of here while we still can!"

I looked around, and saw the chaos which was quickly enveloping the Yeerk Pool. Controllers were desperately trying to multitask between stopping the raging animals, and recapturing the freed controllers who were either A. Running for the nearest exit, or B. were grabbing the first they they could use as a weapon to help fight the Yeerks, from Dracon Beams and Human-made weapons to just steel pipes. These people were fighting for their very freedom, for the right to live free or die. And while the Yeerks were barely keeping them contained, they were still giving them hell. If I had a human mouth, I would be smirking. These people, once crying in misery, and shouting for freedom, were now shouting out cries of battle. This was the power of humanity. This was the power of hope, and courage.

However, I knew we could not save all of them… but I intended to save as many as I could. But I also knew time was short, it was only a matter of time before Visser Three showed up. I looked around Jake, as I saw he and Marco had managed to bust Tom out, and were heading for the first exit.

"_Everyone! Head for the exits!_" I shouted in wide-open thought speak, so all of the freed humans and some Hork-Bajir could hear. "_To the stairs! Don't let the Yeerks take you back alive!_" I paused for a split second, before I added. "_FREE OR DEAD!_"

That got them riling quickly, as across the pool, freed controllers began charging for the exits, some of them, even Hork-Bajir, chanting out 'Free or Dead' as they attacked any Yeerks between them and the exit.

We all scrambled for the exit while Jessica and her friends bolted for the other side of the pool. However, just before I myself darted away, a bit of motion in the corner of my vision caught my eye, as I turned around and saw her. Sitting in one of the cages, was the same six year old girl I saw at the Sharing Beach meeting. Her hands were around the cage's bars, looking at the chaos around her, her eyes wide in either fear or hope.

I knew I couldn't leave her. Seeing her in the cage convinced me she was not a voluntary controller. "_Jessica!_" I shouted, catching her attention, "_Help me with this last cage!_"

She nodded and ran over to the cage, aiming the gun at the lock. The girl knew what would happen, as she backed away from the cage lock before she fired at the lock, breaking it apart. Jessica then kicked the door inward and grabbed the girl. "C'mon!" she cried.

The girl nodded and clung to Jessica like a lifeline. The young woman ran as fast as she could, aiming her gun and firing at the closest Hork-Bajir Controller and killing it with a blast of lead to the chest.

"_Just hang in there kid,_" I said to the little girl who held onto Jessica. "_We'll get you out of here._"

* * *

**Jessica POV**

* * *

I ran for the exit with my team beside me, while at the same time carrying the little girl in my arms who was clutching to me as if I were a life vest. I glanced behind, and I saw a large wave of people following me. "C'mon!" I shouted. "Any longer and you'll be trapped!" They heeded my cry and ran after me, but I stepped aside and we all let them pass. Better to let them go first rather than let them die while we covered the rear.

Then, things went downhill.

"_Oh shit..._" I heard Jordan mutter in thought speak, as I looked at him and saw his white bengal tiger form lookin in one direction, and I followed his gaze and I paled a bit myself. Stepping out daintily from a bunch of Hork-Bajir, was none other than Visser Three.

"Oh shit..." I began to whisper, before remembering I had a young girl in my arms. "...takimushrooms."

Visser Three seemed from first glance rather calm, but I could tell he was livid from the inside, but keeping himself composed to command his troops properly. We were not the only ones who noticed this, as the Animorphs quickly saw Visser Three as well, as well as a few of the runners.

A Taxxon slithered up beside Visser Three, and spoke in its somewhat whistling voice. The Visser said nothing, he just looked at us with those vertical slits that were his eyes.

"_This Taxxon fool says you are wild animals,_" Visser Three said, "_He wants to know if he and his brothers can eat you._" He let out a short silent laugh "_But I know you are not animals. I _know _who and what you are. So, not all of you Andalites died when I burned your ships… and if it isn't the oh-so meddling human resistance as well. How quaint._"

That voice, tainted with fear and evil, crept into our thoughts and minds. Steven shuddered and glanced back, pure rage filling his brown eyes. Tony whirled, his entire body tense like a spring. Vanessa meanwhile held the detonator for the mine close to her chest, her eyes wide and locked onto the spot where the thought-speak had come from.

"Your time here is about to come to an end, Visser!" I snapped.

Visser Three let out another laugh. "_Correction, it is your time that has come to an end, human,_" he said. "_I must commend both you and your new… Andalite Allies, for making it this far. But it will accomplish nothing. Because now, my brave Andalite Warriors and Human Primitives, you are in my domain. Once I kill you all, I will recapture all of the hosts you had set free, and if any of you happen to survive… I will infest you with my best and most trusted lieutenants._"

"Good luck with that!" Steven snapped. "Some of us here can't even _be_ infested!"

"_I doubt that, human._" Visser Three sneered out, "_Even if you couldn't… I will just kill you anyways. You will not stop the progress we have spent so long building here on this planet. You will all die, and the invasion will continue as if nothing had happened._"

"_You underestimate humanity, Visser Three,_" Another thought-speak voice said, causing me to blink as I turned and recognized it was Jordan, who's Tiger body stepped forward as if challenging the Yeerk Commander.

Visser Three glanced at the white Tiger body, "_So the Andalites speak,_" he mused out, "_And how, might I ask Andalite Scum, are we underestimating this weak race of hosts?_"

"_Unlike you Visser Three, I have seen what Humanity can accomplish._" Jordan said, trying to sound as Andalite-ish as possible. "_I have spent much time researching humanity… and although they may not be ready to accept the same responsibilities as us Andalites… the progress they have made so far proves their potential as a future space-faring race someday… maybe even sooner than we think._"

Visser Three laughed loudly at that, "_Humans a space-faring race on their own?_" He asked almost incredulously, "_You have not researched them enough, Andalite. For they are still divided upon themselves over such meeger subjects, such as their 'culture' and 'religion'. Never before have I seen a race so divided against itself! If we committed to an open invasion, we would crush them one nation at a time. But alas, _Visser One _and the Council of Thirteen demands for a _secretive _invasion. However it is fortunate that they are such an easy race to infest, and control._"

"_Humanity may be divided now,_" Jordan said, "_But all it takes is a common enemy to unite them. Across the stars I have seen battles, us Andalites against you Parasites. I have gained and lost many comrades… but we will always stand to fight the Yeerks, and so will the humans who now stand beside me! Look around you Visser! These humans you once enslaved, are now fighting your own forces! We realizes that the sacrifices will be heavy… but we will fight on against you, know that a single spark of courage, will ignite the fires of hope, and begin the storm of rebellion._"

Visser's eyes just narrowed. "_You overestimate humanity, and your own race Andalite._" he said. "_And I have grown tired of speaking to you._" Then, he began to morph. "_I aquired this body on the fourth moon of a second planet of a dying star. Like it?_"

* * *

_**Jordan's POV**_

* * *

I have always imagined how Visser Three's morph from the first book would really look like. But everything I had ever imagined was a severe understatement compared to seeing the beast with my own two eyes. Growing to over twenty meters in height, towering over all of us. It had eight massive legs the size of tree trunks, eight long three-clawed spindly arms, and growing out of his body were eight almost dragon-looking heads.

For a moment, I was frozen in fear. I had seen the morph he used to devour Elfangor… this made that thing look like a chew toy. I felt so much fear, more so than I had ever felt before. Even the tiger-half of me was confused and worried about this new, unfamiliar foe.

However… I thought of my friends. Not just my friends at home, but the other Animorphs, and the friends I've found in Jessica, Vanessa, Steven and Tony. I have only known them for only a short time, but… they were possibly the best friends I may have ever met. They were the only friends who now, I felt I could fight side-by-side with, and I could trust them with my life if need-be. And I knew I had to do the same for them as well. Although I still felt that familiar fear clutching at my heart… I felt courage as well. Courage to protect my friends, courage to keep them safe, and courage to ensure that we would _all _make it out alive. And to ensure as many people could escape to be free as well.

"_Jake, everyone, get the hell out of here!_" I shouted to the other Animorphs and Jessica's team. "_We gotta get out of here, and bring as many people as we can with us! Don't let Visser Three scare you! The bigger they are, the harder they fall!_"

The other Animorphs were not about to question a chance to get out of there. "_Run!_" Jake said. "_Everyone! Up the stairs!_"

"_Yes, run!_" Visser Three said, as he saw us run up the stairs. "_It makes for more challenging targets!_"

'_You want a fucking challenge, I'll give you one._' I thought, before I looked at the others joining our escape. I saw many humans had already to slip away in the chaos, but most of the Hork-Bajir had been contained with the exception of two riding on Cassie in horseback. With us were about twenty more humans who were making their way to the exit the other Animorphs were heading up. Visser Three wasted no time, as he began lobbing balls of fire at the crowds of running hosts, not caring who got hit even if they were his own controllers.

"_Jessica, we gotta find a way to limit his firepower!_" I said, hopping next to Jessica "_Sure hope you brought some heavy firepower!_"

She nodded as she turned to Tony and Vanessa. "Get the rockets out!" she shouted, as the two nodded as they began pulling out their respective RPG-7 and LAW Anti-Tank Missile. "Steven, with me! We gotta draw his fire away from them and the runners!" She then looked at the kid she carried in her arms, before she put her down next to me. "Stay with the white Tiger, alright?" she said as softly as she could given the circumstances. "He'll keep you safe."

The girl glanced at me, as I nodded my tiger head - which to anyone else probably would of looked pretty damn odd "_I'll keep you safe,_" I said.

The girl however took it pretty well, as she hopped onto my back and I split off up the stairs "_Jess, give us some cover!_" I said. "_Once we're clear, get the hell out of here and meet back up with me at the house!_"

Jessica nodded before she glanced at Steven, who also nodded and they bolted, splitting up and the humans ran for it. Tony and Vanessa bolted for the closest spot from which to fire, which happened to be a large pile of debris from the excavation of the cavern making for some decent cover as they prepared to fire. Meanwhile Jessica and Steven had flanked left, drawing fire away from their two comrades. Steven brought out his weapon, his Makarov pistol and fired off his last few rounds of ammo. Discarding the now useless weapon, he then picked out his more dangerous M249 SAW Light Machine Gun, and opened fire, as did Jessica with her AK.

The distraction was actually working, amazingly. Although he was still lobbing fireballs in my direction with the other evacuee's, out of his eight heads only half of them were firing at us, the other four were directed at Jessica and Steven. Although we were losing people, it was not nearly as quickly in the book as we scaled up the stairs as if hell were at our feet - which it pretty much was.

I was also quick to notice some other details about Visser Three's morph. It was scary as hell, yes, but there was a small time delay between each fireball shot out of each individual mouth. It took five whole seconds for it to lob another fireball from the same mouth, but it compensated for that by having multiple heads firing. But with four heads firing in one direction, and four in ours, he couldn't shoot them off as fast or as accurately. A weakness that could be exploited.

However, my focus was on getting out of that hellhole, and making sure the girl now riding on my back made it out alive.

* * *

**Jessica POV**

* * *

**BGM: "Battle of New York City" Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 OST**

I continued to fire my AK-47 at the massive beast that was Visser Three's morph. Things were beginning to get out of hand, as Visser Three began shooting at almost anything that moved, either at the staircase or in our direction. His forces that once were attacking us had now fallen back, to avoid being shot by Visser's fireballs, making it a bit easier for us… now we just had to figure out how to take this damn thing out.

Thankfully, Visser's attention was focused on me, Steven and the Animorphs so much, he didn't even see Vanessa and Tony peaking out from behind their cover, raising their respective launchers. Vanessa aimed her LAW and fired a round, which soared forward and hit the creature Visser Three morphed into square on the back.

The blast didn't do too much, the creature's hide taking the bulk of the damage, but it sure as hell gave the Visser a good surprise and it must of hurt at least as all eight of the beasts heads let out a roar of pain. Distracted, Tony took another shot from his RPG-7, as the 85mm rocket sped forward, and hit one of the eight heads of Visser Three's Morph. The blast getting it right into it's mouth, quite literally blasting it off, once again causing Visser Three to roar in pain. "_You dare to attack me?!_" he screamed. "_I will burn you alive!_"

"Try us!" Vanessa yelled as she fired again, this time hitting the beast square in the torso.

* * *

_**Jordan POV**_

* * *

I almost couldn't believe it, but we were almost out.

We were about one hundred steps up, although we had lost all of the Freed Hork-Bajir from Visser Three's blasts of fire, we still had over a dozen humans still with us, including the girl still riding on my back, clinging onto my tiger fur for dear life. It stung a bit, but I ignored it considering we had much bigger things to worry about.

Visser Three was very split, now with only seven heads he could only fire two at Jessica and Steven, two at Tony and Vanessa, and only three in me and the Animorphs. And the best part was his anger was getting the better of him, and his shots were going more wild, making them less accurate.

Most of the escapees had reached the top floor already with Cassie and Melissa. Now, all that was left was myself, the girl, Jake, Tom, Marco and Rachel. The latter of which had half-way demorphed from Elephant in order to scale the stairs and was ahead of us all.

"_You won't escape me that easily Andalite!_" Visser Three shouted, as he fired yet another fireball. This one aimed directly ahead of us, missing Rachel who managed to run past the blast, however it now left me, the girl, Jake, Marco and Tom trapped between a wall of fire in front of us, and a freak of nature behind us.

"No," a rather familiar voice said. "No, you filthy creep, you aren't going to win this time!"

It was Tom.

He had managed to get out of Marco's grasp somehow, and was not charging at the massive beast Visser Three had turned into, with nothing but his fists. It was a pretty brave thing.

Stupid-Brave that is.

"_You Idiot/Tom!_" Me and Jake both shouted at him at the same time, but Tom either didn't hear us or just ignored us as he ran towards Visser Three. However Visser Three just raised one of his clawed arms, and swung at him as he knocked Tom away, hitting him against a wall knocking him unconscious.

I then watched as Jake went Ballistic, as his Siberian Tiger turned around and dived towards Visser Three, claws outstretched as he landed next to one of the heads, and proceeded to use his Tiger Claws and Teeth to tear its neck out. Roaring in pain, two of his remaining six heads tried to hit Jake, but he managed to jump clear of the first shot which just ended up hitting the head he had just torn up, but the second shot was lucky as he hit Jake's flank before he jumped clear.

Once again, Visser Three was blinded in pain and rage, as he just began firing indiscriminately, roaring in pain while Jake roared in hatred. "_Jake!_" I shouted. "_Come on, we gotta bail!_"

Jake let out one final roar before he began running next to me, as we ran up the stairs, most of the others had managed to escape. All that was left were me, Jake and the kid. Just a little bit more and we would all escape this living hell. However I saw one of Visser's fireballs fly towards me, there was no way I could avoid most of it.

But she could.

"_KID! JUMP!_" I shouted at the child on my back, who saw the fireball approach. She did as I asked, as she jumped off my back, and landed on Jake's. Without her weight on me, I managed to jump into the air, missing the bulk of the fire blast, but my hind left leg, scorching away the fur and skin there.

I've been burned once when I was a kid during the Fourth of July. A firecracker hit the huge pile of fireworks my uncle gathered, setting them all off causing one hell of an explosion. I got a glancing hit from one of the rockets and it hurt like hell, but it wasn't anything permanent. Imagine that, but multiply it by a thousand and you'd likely come pretty close to how bad it felt. It was like being stabbed in the leg by a bunch of burning hot knives.

I let out a loud roar of pain, before I landed back onto the ground. The little girl began to run towards me "_Keep going up!_" I shouted to her. "_Keep running, and don't stop till you reach the top!_"

The girl nodded as she ran up the stairs with Jake. I followed, but I was lagging a bit because of my wound. It hurt like hell… but knowing the fact that I may of not just saved the girl, but also over a dozen other humans from enslavement made the pain worth it, to me at least. I glanced back, seeing that Visser Three was sending less and less fireballs our way, and was now focusing more on Jessica's team. However other Controllers were beginning to move up the stairs as well. However we were almost out, we were all about to get out alive. Me, Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, Melissa, and even Tobia-

Tobias!

My train of thought came to a screeching halt, with all of the battle and distractions I had completely forgotten about Tobias! I darted my head back once more, scanning the area. Thankfully for my Tiger's eyes I could see a Red-Tailed hawk sitting in the shadows, out of sight from the Visser and the Controllers.

"_Tobias, come on!_" I shouted. "_We gotta get the hell out of here!_" Tobias looked at me and nodded, as he began to spread his wings to take off, however the sound of new voices were heard at the stairs and I could see multiple human controllers making their way up the stairs, all of them armed with Dracon Beams.

**BGM: PHENOMENA by Audiomachine**

"_Go on without me,_" Tobias said in a surprisingly calm voice. "_I can stay hidden till the coast is clear and sneak out._"

"_No!_" I shouted back. I wasn't about to let Tobias become stuck as a hawk like this. "_You have to come with us! You know we have a time limit for morphs!_"

"_Jordan, what are you waiting for?_" Jake shouted, him noticing I had fallen behind. "_We gotta go!_"

"_Tobias is still back there!_" I shouted back. "_I'm not leaving him dammit!_"

"_Just go! I'll meet back with you later!_" Tobias shouted back. "_Please, I'll be fine! They can't see me here!_"

I wanted to argue, I wanted to save Tobias… but I knew he was right. And I couldn't sacrifice my own life just to keep Tobias from becoming a hawk, as much as I hated it. I turned around, and I began to run with the others. However, my leg wound was not making it easy. I was running as fast as I could, but I was still lagging behind the others, and the Controllers were beginning to catch up.

'_I am _not _going to die here..._' I thought as I tried harder to move. '_I have too much to do… I can't die yet!_'

Suddenly, I felt a pair of very large and hairy arms grab me, and began to carry me forward "_Hang on, man,_" I could hear Marco say. "_You saved my ass from the worms, now I'm returning the favor… just don't turn this into a habbt… you need to lay back on the mice, kitty cat._"

"_Screw… you… Marco..._" I replied, before adding in "_Thanks..._" I began to feel a bit woozy suddenly, I guess the wound to my leg did more damage than I thought. Was I losing blood? Things began to get dizzy, and cold, as I couldn't make things out anymore...

* * *

**Jessica POV**

* * *

I smiled as I saw Jordan and the others finally vanish up the stairs. Now was our chance to bolt as well. I turned to Vanessa. "Vanessa, get ready! As soon as we bail, blow that thing and seal off this exit!"

She nodded. "Right!"

I turned to face Steven and Tony. "Guys! Retreat now!" I shouted.

The two boys nodded and followed me and Vanessa as we tore outta there like hell was hot on our feet, which it was. I glanced back as the Visser began to follow us as we ran for the stairs. The entrance seemed to get closer, but too slowly for me. I gritted my teeth and poured on some extra muscle power, adrenaline flooding our veins.

The four of us managed to reach the exit as the Visser fired off a final fire blast at us. Vanessa turned and smirked. "See ya, Slugface!" she called as she pressed the detonator.

The explosion rocked the tunnel as we ran up the stairs to where the Hummer was. We didn't have time to get inside, so Tony was the only one who slipped into the vehicle while me, Steven, and Vanessa clung to the outside, the blast wave rocketing up the tunnel after us. Tony gunned it, the engine revving menacingly as we finally blasted out the hidden entrance as the blast wave followed us, billowing dust and dirt out as it finally collapsed behind us. Tony spun the wheel and the Hummer came to a stop.

Vanessa leapt off and smiled as she landed. "All right! First mission was a success!" she said.

"Hardly," Tony muttered. "We lost a lot of people down there."

"Hey, we'll always find some way to free more!" Vanessa chirped.

Steven's eyes however were hard as he glanced back at the entrance. "Yeah. We will," he murmured.

"Hey, is something wrong?" I asked.

"Yeah… yeah I'm fine..." Steven said, shaking his head. "Let's… let's just get out of here… we gotta meet up with Jordan after this..."

Tony nodded. "Good idea. Let's get going."

We all nodded and piled into the Hummer before heading off, but not before Steven glanced back at the sealed entrance, a tear slipping down his cheek.

* * *

**117Jorn: And the chapter is DONE! FINALLY! Sorry for the rather long delay, but we had other fics to work on you know. **

**Titanic X: And as you can see, things are finally heating up! Literally in this case. We'll be sure to try and get the next chappie up sooner, hopefully.**

**117Jorn: Yeah, and the next chapter? Jordan's big reveal to the Animorphs. So, until next time….**

**Both: Ja NE!**


End file.
